The anti-terrorism squad of Uttar Pradesh Police has allegedly arrested two men from south Delhi on charges of running an illegal religious conversion racket across the country, reported India Today.
According to the report, the suspects, Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam, both residents of Jamia Nagar, were allegedly involved in the conversion of over 1,000 children and women with hearing impairment to Islam.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath has directed the investigating agency to conduct an in-depth probe of religion conversation cases, with those involved to be detained under the National Security Act (NSA) and their property to be seized, the CM’s Office said on Tuesday.
"A team of Special Task Force (STF) busted a gang that (allegedly) illegally converted religion of 1,000 people," the CMO said.
According to the India Today report, the two suspects had allegedly converted over a dozen students from a school for the speech and hearing impaired in Noida.
The police have filed an FIR in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar under the state’s anti-conversion law, which prevents a person to convert another person to another religion by force, allurement, or any other fraudulent means.
Speaking on the arrests, Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that the racket was funded from abroad. “Both were arrested after interrogation. We have got documents of foreign funding and other evidence,” Kumar was quoted by India Today.
According to police, the two men allegedly revealed during interrogation that they had been converting around 250 to 300 people every year.
(With inputs from India Today and ANI)
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