UP Police busts large-scale illegal conversion racket; 10 held from 6 states

Uttar Pradesh Police dismantled a large-scale illegal conversion racket, arresting 10 individuals from six states. The investigation began after two sisters were allegedly coerced into religious conversion and radicalization

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday said they had busted a large-scale illegal religious conversion racket and arrested 10 people from six states.

The probe began in Agra in March after two sisters — aged 33 and 18 — were reported missing. Investigations revealed that they were allegedly coerced into religious conversion and were undergoing radicalization, the police said.

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One of the sisters had also put a picture of a girl holding an AK-47 rifle as her profile picture on a social media platform, they added.

“Preliminary investigations found that the sisters were targeted by a gang involved in ‘love jihad’ and radicalization,” Agra Commissioner of Police Deepak Kumar said.

“We also found clues about their funding originating from America and Canada,” he said.
The Agra police have made 10 arrests in connection with the case. Three were arrested from Rajasthan, two each from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and one each from Goa, Uttarakhand, and Delhi.

The accused were identified as Ayesha from Goa, Ali Hasan and Osama from Kolkata, Rehman Qureshi from Agra, Abbu Talib from Muzaffarnagar, Abur Rehman from Dehradun, Mohammad Ali, Junaid Qureshi, and another Mohammad Ali from Rajasthan, along with Mustafa from Delhi, the UP Police said.

All the accused were presented in an Agra court on Saturday, where police secured their 10-day police custody remand for further questioning, officials confirmed.

“The modus operandi of the gang involved illegal conversion and radicalization, bearing a signature of ISIS,” Commissioner Kumar further stated.

The arrested individuals played diverse roles within this intricate network. Their activities included receiving illicit funds, providing safe houses for covert operations, offering legal advice, and offering other forms of assistance to facilitate the conversions and radicalization, the commissioner said.

Given the gravity of these incidents, specialized units of the UP Police, including the Special Task Force (STF) and the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), have been roped in to assist with the ongoing investigation, Director General of Police Rajeev Krishna said.

This action is part of Mission Asmita, an ongoing initiative aimed at dismantling such illicit syndicates.

Mission Asmita specifically targets criminals involved in serious offenses such as ‘love jihad,’ illegal conversions, radicalization, and deliberate attempts to undermine national security by funneling international jihadist funding through clandestine networks, including the dark web, DGP Krishna reiterated.