Another arrest in Uttar Pradesh illegal conversion racket syndicate

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested another active member of the well-known ''illegal conversion syndicate'' whose 14 members have already been taken into custody since June 20, officials said here Thursday.

The latest member to be held is Sarfaraz Ali Zafri who was being interrogated for the past two to three days and was formally arrested Wednesday, the ATS said in a statement here, adding the police has sought his remand from a court.

The first arrests in the case were made by the ATS on June 20 when Delhi’s Jamia Nagar residents Mufti Qazi, Jahangir Alam Qasmi, and Mohammad Umar Gautam were apprehended. Qazi and Guatam used to run Islamic Dawah Center which allegedly received ISI funds for converting deaf-mute students to Islam, according to officials.

The ATS has so far arrested 15 people including scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui in connection with the conversion racket.

Zafri is a resident of Jamia Nagar and allegedly oversaw the works of Kaleem's Global Peace Centre, which was involved in religious conversion, the ATS said.

He also ran the Humanity for All organization in New Delhi and carried out the illegal conversion in the name of social work, the ATS said.

He lured the prospective converts with the promise of helping them get a job, it said, adding Kaleem used to fund Zafri.

The force said he was also allegedly involved in getting foreign funding for illegal conversion which has been established by records recovered from his mobile. Those arrested so far have been booked under relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2020 and the Indian Penal Code, officials have said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)