NEW DELHI, July 19: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday busted a large-scale illegal religious conversion and radicalisation racket that the officials claimed operated in a manner similar to ISIS. Ten people have been arrested from six different states as part of the operation.
The investigation began in Agra in March after two sisters, aged 33 and 18, were reported missing. Police later discovered that they had allegedly been coerced into changing their religion and were being radicalised.
According to Agra Commissioner of Police Deepak Kumar, one of the sisters had even used a social media profile picture showing a girl holding an AK-47 rifle. “Preliminary investigations found that the sisters were targeted by a gang involved in ‘love jihad’ and radicalisation,” he said.
The Agra Police Commissioner also claim that the racket received funding from foreign countries, including the United States and Canada. “We also found clues about their funding originating from America and Canada,” he stated.
The arrested individuals are suspected to have played various roles in the network, including receiving illegal funds, providing shelter, giving legal advice, and facilitating the conversion and radicalisation process. “The modus operandi of the gang involved illegal conversion and radicalization bears a signature of ISIS,” Commissioner Kumar said.
Out of the ten individuals arrested, including one woman, three were apprehended in Rajasthan, two each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and one each in Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Goa. The arrested individuals have been identified as Ayesha (alias S.B. Krishna) from Goa; Ali Hasan (alias Shekhar Roy) and Osama from Kolkata; Rehman Qureshi from Agra; Abbu Talib from Khalapar, Muzaffarnagar; Abur Rehman from Dehradun; Mustafa (alias Manoj) from Delhi; and two individuals from Jaipur, Mohammad Ali and Junaid Qureshi.
Due to the seriousness of the case, the UP Police have brought in specialised units, including the Special Task Force (STF) and the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), to assist in the ongoing investigation. The crackdown is part of Mission Asmita, an initiative launched by the Yogi Adityanath-led government to tackle crimes such as illegal religious conversion, radicalisation, ‘love jihad’, and foreign-funded attempts to disturb national security.
The UP Director General of Police Rajeev Krishna said the police were coordinating with other state and central agencies to trace the full extent of the network and would seek custodial remand of the accused for further questioning.
(Manas Dasgupta)
