The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, probing the mass conversion racket, on Thursday arrested Sarfaraz Ali Zafri, a close aide of Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui. The accused was arrested from the state’s Amroha district. According to reports, Zafri had been working very closely with Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, accused of running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’, and had been pushing several people into conversion since 2016.
The arrest was made after Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who is one of the biggest clerics from western UP, was arrested on charges of religious conversions by the state’s anti-terrorist squad last month.
IG, ATS, GK Goswamy revealed that they had received information about Sarfaraz Ali Zafri while interrogating Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui.
“Zafri used to work at Global Peace centre of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who was arrested earlier. He was also member of Revert, Rehab, and Dawa WhatsApp Group through which his gang members spread religious hatred, induced people to adopt Islam by giving various kinds of inducements,” Goswamy said.
According to the ATS, Zafri is a Jamia Nagar resident who allegedly directed the activities of Kaleem’s Global Peace Centre, which was involved in religious conversion. According to the ATS, he also ran the Humanity for All organisation in New Delhi, which engaged in unlawful conversion under the pretext of social service.
Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui funded arrested Sarfaraz Ali Zafri, said Uttar Pradesh ATS
He lured potential converts by promising to assist them to find work, according to the report, which also stated that Kaleem used to fund Zafri. According to the police, he was also allegedly involved in obtaining foreign financing for unlawful conversion, as evidenced by data found from his cellphone.
Officials say those arrested so far have been charged under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2020, and the Indian Penal Code.
UP ATS conducts raids at premises of recently arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui in Delhi
Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh ATS had conducted massive raids at the premises of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui who has been accused of running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’.
Two residential and two commercial properties of prime accused Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui and his associates were searched in connection with the probe.
As per a press note issued by the ATS, incriminating evidence from desktops, tablets and documents has been seized from the raids conducted at several locations across the national capital.
Siddiqui’s residence as well as his organizations Global Peace Center and World Peace Organization located in Shaheen Bagh area of New Delhi were raided along with the residence of one Abdul Rahman.
Crores received through hawala
The UP ATS had initiated a massive investigative operation in June this year after the arrest of one Umar Gautam and his aide accused of mass conversions.
The duo ran an organization named Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC), along with their other associates, to mass convert people into Islam through inducements such as marriage, job, money and mental pressure.
They have also been accused of targeting differently-abled children to convert and use them as human bombs. Moreover, the investigation has also revealed the illegal foreign funding received by Gautam and his accomplices.