ED raids 6 locations across Delhi, UP in religious conversion PMLA case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted raids in at least six places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in connection with a recent allegation regarding deaf students and poor people being forcibly converted to Islam with funds from abroad. Officials familiar with the development confirmed that the raids were conducted at various locations in the national capital and the adjoining state.

Several incriminating documents have been recovered during the raids, HT has learnt, which reveal the large-scale religious conversion carried out by the chief accused, Mohammad Umar Gautam, and his organisations all over India. The documents also reveal several crores of foreign funding received by the accused organisations for the purpose of these illegal conversions.

Earlier, the UP Police's Anti Terror Squad (ATS) had arrested Umar Gautam, who allegedly ran the Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC) outfit, and his associate, Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi -- both residents of Jamia Nagar in Delhi. The police claimed that this outfit received funds from Pakistan's inter-services intelligence (ISI) and other foreign agencies to carry out religious conversions.

The locations in Delhi, searched by ED officials on Saturday, include the office of the IDC, and as well as the residences of Mohammad Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi. All of these places are located at Jamia Nagar in the city.

In Uttar Pradesh, the ED raided the offices of the Al Hassan Education and Welfare Foundation and the Guidance Education and Welfare Society, both located at Lucknow. These organisations are run by Umar Gautam and have been playing an instrumental role in carrying out these alleged illegal conversions, officials said.

The case was unearthed by the Uttar Pradesh's Police's ATS last month, following which the ED lodged a criminal case under the provisions of the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), before launching its own probe in the matter.