Islamic scholar arrested in UP for running ‘conversion syndicate’

Lucknow, September 22

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui from Meerut for allegedly running the “biggest conversion syndicate”, an official said today.

Siddiqui was arrested by the ATS around 9 pm on Tuesday and was brought to the agency’s headquarters in Lucknow after being produced in a court, Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said.

He was arrested three months after Delhi’s Jamia Nagar residents Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam were apprehended by the ATS on June 20. Qazi and Guatam were running Islamic Dawah Centre, an outfit allegedly working on the ISI funding for converting deaf-mute students to Islam, according to officials.

The ATS has so far arrested 10 persons in connection with the conversion racket.

Samajwadi Party Sambhal MP Shafiqur Rehman Barq termed the Siddiqui’s arrest “wrong”. “The BJP government has no work other than targeting and harassing Muslims,” he said.

The ADG said Gautam and his accomplice had received Rs 57 crore from Britain-based Al-Falaa Trust, but they did not give expenditure details. The ADG said it also came to the fore that Siddiqui misled people for conversion. — PTI

Caught from Meerut

• Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui was arrested from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday evening for allegedly running the “biggest conversion syndicate”
• He is said to be involved in the conversion racket under the garb of educational, social and religious groups