UP Police gets transit remand of main accused in online gaming conversion row

A court in Maharashtra's Thane granted the Uttar Pradesh police transit remand of Shahnawaz Khan to take him to Ghaziabad where he is accused of illegal conversion of youths through an online gaming app, an official said.

Khan, who hails from Thane's Mumbra township, was arrested from a relative's place in Alibag in Raigad district on Sunday, the official said.

''He is being taken to Ghaziabad from Thane by road,'' the police official said.

A senior official in Ghaziabad said a team had gone to Thane on a four-wheeler to bring Shahnawaz Khan alias Baddo.

Ghaziabad Commissioner of Police Ajay Mishra told PTI the police team is trying to get air tickets to bring him.

The Ghaziabad Police will be joined by the Anti-Terrorist Squad and other investigating agencies to probe Khan's alleged connection with Pakistan and other countries and also investigate his source of funding for allegedly converting Hindu boys through a gaming app, Mishra said.

He said police will also probe how many minors have been ''trapped'' by him and converted Islam.

''What is the motive behind conversion? Baddo's connections with anti-social groups would also be scrutinized,'' Mishra said.

Data from his laptop and mobile phone which he might have deleted would be retrieved, the Commissioner of Police said. According to the Thane police, Khan and the cleric of a mosque in Ghaziabad were booked under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act based on a complaint.

A man from Ghaziabad had lodged a complaint with the police last month alleging the cleric and Khan had unlawfully converted his son, who recently passed the class 12 board exam, to Islam.

As per the complainant, his son came in contact with Khan through an online gaming app and frequently spoke to him, following which he got inclined towards adopting Islam.