“The two were called for questioning on several occasions and arrested after collecting proper evidence against them,” ADG Prashant Kumar said.
Uttar Pradesh police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday claimed to have busted a racket involving illegal conversion of poor individuals and children with speech and hearing disabilities belonging to other religions to Islam.
Mohammed Umar Gautam, one of the accused, is himself a convert and a resident of Batla House area. Mufti Kazi Jahangir Qasmi, the another accused, the chairman of Islamic Dawah Center (IDC) In Jamia Nagar in Delhi. As per the ATS, they are allegedly involved in religious conversion of around 1,000 people. Prashant Kumar, ADG law and order, said the names Umar and Jahangir had cropped up during the interrogation of Kashif and Vipul Vijayvargiya who were arrested in connection with a conspiracy to attack Guru Yati Narshighanand Saraswati of Ghaziabad on June 2. It was revealed during the interrogation that Vipul’s real name was Ramzan and he had adopted a Hindu name merely to avoid suspicion and enter Guru Yati’s temple complex in Dasna area of Ghaziabad.
“The two were called for questioning on several occasions and arrested after collecting proper evidence against them,” ADG Prashant Kumar said. “We are looking into the financial aspects of the group to get more details about the funding from anti-national groups including ISI, and will be presented before the court.
Jahangir Qasmi is a mufti (Islamic Preacher) and the head of Islamic Da’wah Centre (IDC) in Jamia Nagar area of Delhi. Jahangir allegedly used the centre for the purpose of mass conversion and arranged annual convocation for the new converts. Umar Gautam converted to Islam a few years ago and looked for vulnerable people for conversion, IGP, ATS, GK Goswamy, who led the operation, told the Times Of India.
“We have recovered a register from the possession of the accused that contains details of over a 1,000 people who were converted by the duo in the past 18 months,” said the IG. Names and addresses mentioned in the register are that of individuals from Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi. In Uttar Pradesh, people from Varanasi, Mathura and Kanpur find a mention in the register,” the ATS chief said.
“The accused targeted vulnerable groups in the society and lured them with promises of jobs and occupations. The also tried to instill hatred in the people against their previous religion to make the conversion easier. The accused went out for children with speech and hearing disabilities and living in various institutions and converted them without even intimating their parents. In one such instance, a family in Kanpur lodged an FIR regarding the mysterious disappearance of their son Aditya Gupta who was enrolled at a society in Noida. The boy was later found to have travelled to Kerala and was now offering namaz five times a day and converted to Islam. He returned to his family after he came to know that his mother was critical and hospitalised,” Mr Goswamy said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
