UP ATS arrests three more in forced conversion case

Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday arrested three more persons in the forced religious conversion case following arrests of two persons earlier.

Uttar Pradesh ATS had earlier arrested Mufti Qazi Jehangir Alam Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam from Delhi and several persons had been questioned in the case.

The UP Police said on Monday that the three arrested are Mannu Yadav aka Abdul Manaan, resident of Gurugram, Haryana, Irfan Sheikh, resident of Beed, Maharashtra and Rahul Bhola, resident of New Delhi.

Addressing a press conference, Prashant Kumar ADG (Law and Order) said the police are verifying details of people converted by Umar Gautam's Islamic Dawah Center (IDC).

"ATS arrested three more accused in a religious conversion case. ATS is verifying details of people converted by Umar Gautam. For this, we have sent letters to SPs of 32 districts to take advance action. These include Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, Bijnor, Kanpur, Meerut, and Mathura. Based on facts, further investigation to be done," he said.

He said the accused will be questioned on the basis of details that emerge and added that ATS is also making verifications in Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Noida, Varanasi, Azamgarh and Agra.

"It has come to light that the accused Umar Gautam has used his personal bank accounts and of his family to receive money from abroad. This is a clear violation of the provisions of the Foreign Currency Regulation Act," Kumar said.

"The money in the account of Fatima Charitable Trust has been transferred by accused Umar Gautam to the bank accounts of his family for personal use. To date, no audit of this trust has been done by him nor any income tax return has been filed," he added.

Qasmi and Umar Gautam were arrested from Delhi's Jamia Nagar area for their alleged involvement in religious conversion of people to Islam from economically weaker sections, children with hearing and speech disabilities and students on the pretext of money, job and marriage.

During the investigation, it was found that the accused were funded by Pakistan's ISI apart from some other foreign organisations.

( With inputs from ANI )