Accused planned mass conversion, ATS makes three more arrests

There has been a big “disclosure” in the Uttar Pradesh conversion case. According to sources, there is a mention of 1956 in the documents found by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) during the investigation. ATS now suspects that Mohammad Umar Gautam, who is on remand of the ATS, was plotting mass conversion because a large section had adopted Buddhism in 1956. During the inquiry, Umar allegedly said: “It takes two to three months for a person to convert. You have to be tempted, you have to explain what Islam is.” 

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police has expanded the scope of investigation in the conversion case. Now, incidents related to conversion are being closely investigated in all the districts. The ATS is now taking cooperation from the police of the districts to get the necessary inputs. The information received in the interrogation of Mohammad Umar Gautam and Qazi Jehangir Alam, who are on the remand of ATS, is also being confirmed immediately.

The committee of administration conducted an inquiry at the Noorul Huda English School in Fatehpur city. The National Commission for Protection of Child has also sought a report about this school in three days. The team called the teachers, children and parents and recorded the statements of 50 people with videography. The hard disk of the CCTV camera has also been seized. As the conversion plot unfolded with Umar’s arrest, Kalpana Singh, a former school teacher, complained to the administration about Umar’s arrival in the school, motivating children to convert, including forcibly reading Urdu-Arabic. The Commission for Protection of Child Rights took suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the DM. 

Umar Gautam, 57, and Jahangir Alam, 52, both residents of Jamia Nagar in New Delhi, were arrested by the UP ATS last week for their alleged involvement in large-scale illegal conversions of people to Islam in UP and other parts of the country.

The Uttar Pradesh ATS on Monday has arrested three more people in the conversion case—Irfan Khwaja Khan, Rahul Bhola and Mannu Yadav alias Abdul Mannan. 

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar, addressing a press conference, said: “ATS arrested three more accused in a religious conversion case. ATS is verifying details of people converted by Umar Gautam. For this, we have sent letters to SPs of 32 districts to take advance action. These include Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, Bijnor, Kanpur, Meerut, and Mathura. Based on facts, further investigation is to be done.”

He continued, “It has come to light that the accused Umar Gautam has used his personal bank accounts and of his family to receive money from abroad. This is a clear violation of the provisions of the Foreign Currency Regulation Act,” Kumar said. “The money in the account of Fatima Charitable Trust has been transferred by accused Umar Gautam to the bank accounts of his family for personal use. To date, no audit of this trust has been done by him nor any income tax return has been filed,” he added.