As the Special Investigation Team of Uttar Pradesh Police has initiated a probe into the charge of forcing religious conversions against IAS officer Mohammad Iftikharuddin, individuals have now come forward to talk about his conversion activity. Nirmal Kumar Tyagi, former president of Rajkiya Unnayan Basti in a statement said that back in October 2016, Iftikharuddin’s had gone to Kalyanpur and had told the residents to vacate the place as the land was to be used for the Metro project. When the locals pleaded with him not to destroy their houses, he lured them to convert to Islam.
Tyagi alleged that Iftikharuddin tried to threaten the residents of the settlement that their houses would be demolished as an attempt to lure them to conversion. He added that the IAS officer lured him to convert to Islam by offering him money as he was from a low-income family. He said, “When the commissioner was making this suggestion, a person present there started giving him literature related to Islam.” He added that it was not a one-time affair. Several attempts were made to convert the locals to the settlement. There are 600 families living at the settlement and has a population of around 5,000.
He said, “However, the locals decided that they would not accept the offer. When they approached the court regarding the issue of vacating the settlement, the crisis was resolved.” Tyagi further said if SIT summoned him for his testimony, he would testify against the IAS officer.
According to a report published in Dainik Jagaran, there was a plan to build a casting yard in place of the settlement. However, when the metro officials found out that the settlement could not be removed, they changed the plan.
The case against IAS officer Iftikharuddin
A few days back, Bhupesh Awasthi, national vice president of Math Mandir Coordination Committee, alleged that IAS officer Iftikharuddin was indulged in anti-Hindu propaganda. He released a video of religious meetings that allegedly took place at Iftikharuddin’s official residence in which he was seen telling people the benefits of converting to Islam.
In another video, while Iftikharuddin was seen sitting on the floor, a Muslim religious leader was seen giving a radical lesson to the attendees. Taking cognizance of the matter, Aseem Arun, Kanpur Police Commissioner, directed Somendra Meena, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), to initiate a probe.
As per reports, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also summoned the Police Commission Aseem Arun to Lucknow. After his visit to the CM office, an SIT was formed to investigate the case against Iftikharuddin. The two-member SIT is headed by GL Meena, DG CD-CID and Bhanu Bhaskar, ADG Zone.
Owaisi comes in support of Iftikharuddin
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has come forward in support of Iftikharuddin. He said in a tweet, he accused the UP government of having double standards and said, “Uttar Pradesh govt set up an SIT to ‘investigate’ a 6-year-old video of senior IAS Iftekhar sb. The video has been taken out of context & is from a time when this govt wasn’t even in power. This is blatant, targeted harassment based on religion.”
If the parameter is that no officer should be connected to religious activity then prohibit use of all religious symbols/images in offices. If merely discussing faith at home is a crime then punish any officer participating in public religious celebration
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) September 29, 2021
Why double standards?2/2
He further added, “If the parameter is that no officer should be connected to religious activity, then prohibit use of all religious symbols/images in offices. If merely discussing faith at home is a crime then punish any officer participating in public religious celebration.”
