UP ATS arrests Islamic scholar in conversion racket

Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), Sep 22 The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui from Meerut on charges of religious conversation.

His name emerged during the investigation into the Umar Gautam case.

Umar Gautam was jailed in June after the Uttar Pradesh Police rounded him up for allegedly running a conversion racket.

The 64-year-old Islamic scholar was on the radar of security agencies due to suspicious activities. He was picked up as soon as he arrived in Meerut late Tuesday night. He is currently being interrogated by the police.

According to the ATS spokesman, Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui is a resident of Phulat in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar.

Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General (Law and Order), Prashant Kumar, said "Investigation shows that Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui's trust received Rs 3 crore in foreign funding including Rs 1.5 crore from Bahrain. Six teams of ATS have been formed to investigate this case."

Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam were arrested in June from Delhi's Jamia Nagar area for trying to convert deaf students and poor people to Islam, with alleged funding from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).