Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of UP Police on Monday claimed to have busted a nationwide mass conversion racket with the arrest of two men. The men, identified as Umar Gautam and Jahangir Alam, are both residents of Jamia Nagar in New Delhi.
They also allegedly received funding from international organisations, and targeted specially abled children and other vulnerable groups in the society for conversion to Islam. They were involved in conversion of over 1,000 people in the past 18 months, police said.
ATS has lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in Lucknow against the duo, some unidentified persons and Islamic Da’wah Centre (IDC) under section 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 120 B(criminal conspiracy) 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) 153 B(imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) 295(injuring or defiling place of worship) 511(attempt to commit offences) of IPC along with relevant sections of the state’s new anti-conversion law, Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.
In a press conference, additional director general (Law & Order) of UP, Prashant Kumar said in Lucknow, “The duo was involved in an illegal, large scale conversion of people of different faiths to Islam in UP and other parts of the country. Our teams are working to identify other members of the group and their supporters.”
Jahangir Alam, a mufti (Islamic preacher), is linked with IDC in Jamia Nagar. Alam allegedly used the centre for mass conversions, and organised an annual convocation for the newly converted there. Umar Gautam allegedly looked for people they could convince to convert, said the police officials. Gautam himself converted to Islam a few years ago.
{{/usCountry}}Jahangir Alam, a mufti (Islamic preacher), is linked with IDC in Jamia Nagar. Alam allegedly used the centre for mass conversions, and organised an annual convocation for the newly converted there. Umar Gautam allegedly looked for people they could convince to convert, said the police officials. Gautam himself converted to Islam a few years ago.
{{/usCountry}}The officials have also recovered a register from the accused that contains details of over a 1,000 people who were converted by the duo in the past 18 months.
“They targeted vulnerable groups in the society and lured them with the promise of jobs and other avenues to convert them. They also targeted specially abled children living in various institutions and converted them forcefully without their parents’ consent,” said UP ATS chief GK Goswami. “The duo also converted girls of poor households and married them off to Muslim men,” he added.
The officials also alleged that the men received funding from various international organisations, including Pakistani spy agency ISI, for their activities. “We are looking into the financial aspects of the group to get more details about the funding which will be presented before the court,” said Prashant Kumar.
The authorities came to know about the group in June following the arrest of two Muslim men who tried to enter a temple complex in Dasna area of Ghaziabad district pretending to be Hindus. “Their interrogation led us to Umar Gautam and the mufti. They were called for questioning on several occasions and were arrested after we had gathered enough evidence against them,” said ADG Prashant Kumar. “We are trying to ascertain the motive behind these activities.”