An audio clip of the Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who was arrested on charges of religious conversions by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad on Tuesday, September 21, has gone viral. In the audio clip, the Maulana admits that upper caste girls like the Brahmins or the Kshatriyas were the targets for the mass conversion syndicate he had been operating.
In the audio clip shared by Zee News, Maulana Kaleem said: “…isse pehle aaye the toh who bole ki choti jaat ke hain, agar ladki Brahmin ya Kshatriya ya phir koi badi jaat ki ho toh woh jam jaata hain” (…the ones who came before, belonged to the lower caste, its better if the girl is a Brahmin, Kshatriya or from any other upper caste). The Maulana added that he will do something once the lockdown opens.
https://twitter.com/ZeeNews/status/1440947955238780929?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwMaulana Kaleem Siddiqui received funds from Islamic countries including Pakistan
Prior to this, it was also revealed that the cleric was receiving funding from Pakistan for running his illegal conversion racket. Apart from that, Pakistan had also been providing technical assistance to Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui.
Earlier, the police had revealed that the 64-year-old Islamic scholar runs Jamia Imam Waliullah trust that funds several madrassas for which he received huge foreign funding. Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar informed, “Investigation shows Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui’s trust received Rs 3 crores in foreign funding including Rs 1.5 from Bahrain.”
The Islamic scholar arrested by Uttar Pradesh ATS
Siddiqui was on the radar of security agencies and was nabbed from Meerut late on Tuesday (September 21) night. The police official further said that six teams have been formed to investigate the matter further. The Islamic scholar was interrogated along with his three associates throughout the night by UP police.
During the interrogation of ATS, Maulana Kalim also said that after the arrest of Umar Gautam, he too was afraid of being arrested. He confessed to changing his mobile number twice to avoid being caught by the ATS.