Police said the three accused were arrested for selling and distributing ‘suspicious’ books and pamphlets during Magh Mela (an annual Hindu fair) in an attempt to motivate people to get converted to Islam.
TCN Staff Reporter
PRAYAGRAJ (UTTAR PRADESH): Prayagraj police on Tuesday arrested three persons for allegedly running a religious conversion racket during Magh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Magh Mela is an annual Hindu fair held on the vast sands of Sangam (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati) in Prayagraj.
The three accused were arrested for selling and distributing ‘suspicious’ books and pamphlets in an attempt to motivate people to get converted to Islam, police said.
The arrested persons were identified as Mehmood Hasan Gazi (a Madrasa teacher), Mohd Monish a.k.a Ashish Kumar Gupta and Sameer a.k.a Naresh Kumar Saroj.
Two accused were arrested from the Mela area while they were distributing books and pamphlets allegedly containing objectionable comments against the Hindu religion at the behest of a Madrasa teacher who was arrested from his home in the Kareli area, police officials said.
Police said ‘suspicious’ Islamic books, pamphlets, and identification documents were found in the possession of the three accused, two of whom had converted to Islam two years ago and were members of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO).
The alleged racket came to light after some persons raised objections to the distribution of ‘objectionable’ material and informed police about the two youths who were distributing books and pamphlets in the Mela area at a kiosk on Monday (January 16).
UP: Mehmood Hasan Gazi, Mohd Monish and Sameer arrested for spreading ill information about Hindu texts and propagating conversion at Magh Mela in Prayagraj.
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The two youths were detained on Tuesday night and police initiated an investigation following the complaint.
On Tuesday, police presented three accused at a press conference at Prayagraj Police Lines and claimed that they were involved in a conversion racket and were receiving foreign funding for the purpose.
A case has been registered against the accused under sections 153 A (promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings), 419(cheating by personation), 420 (fraud), 467(forgery), 468( forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently using a genuine document), 505 (2) (offence at a place of worship or religious assembly) of IPC and 3/5 Unlawful Religious Conversion Prohibition Act 2021.
Addressing media persons at a press conference on Wednesday, Additional Commissioner of Police (ADCP Crime) Satish Chandra said those arrested were Mehmood Hasan Ghazi (aged around 55 years), a native of Matinpur village in Husainganj area of Fatehpur district (presently residing in A-Block Kareli of Prayagraj), Mohd Monish aka Ashish Kumar Gupta of village Sudnipur, Hanumanganj in Sarai Inayat area and Sameer aka Naresh Kumar Saroj of Pipri area of Kaushambi district.
At least 204 suspicious religious books, three mobile phones, 4 Aadhar cards (two in the name of Monish and Sameer), a suspicious diary, some cash and a kiosk on which they used to distribute books were recovered, he said.
“The prime accused Mehmood Hasan Ghazi is a teacher at Madrasa Himdadia Islamia in the Mariadih area on the outskirts of Prayagraj. He is also the president of the organisation Bazm-e-Paigam-e- Behdaniyat. The books being distributed by Monish and Sameer in the Mela area on the behest of Mehmood Hasan Gazi contained objectionable remarks against the Hindu religion which may hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. Some of the Vedic hymns and ‘shlokas’ have wrong interpretations in the books and their meaning was misrepresented. The books were distributed at Hindu religious places including at Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Assi Ghat in Varanasi etc along with some Hindu religious meetings and assemblies. The motive behind the distribution of such books was to encourage religious conversion of persons who belong to financially weaker sections of the Hindu community” ADCP Crime told TwoCircles.net.
The police official further said Mehmood Hasan Gazi used to give Rs 5000 to the youths for distributing books and pamphlets. “Monish and Sameer used to take photographs, mobile numbers and other details of the persons to whom they used to give the books and later send them to Mehmood. These details were forwarded to a person based in Abu Dhabi,” he added.
“Interrogation till now has revealed that Mehmood was getting foreign funding for propagating Islam via e-wallets. He confessed to sending photographs and details of persons who were targeted for religious conversion to a person in Abu Dhabi. Police and intelligence agencies are carrying out further investigations to learn more about their network and the amount of foreign funding received by the accused till now,” Special Operation Group in-charge sub-inspector Rajesh Upadhyay told TwoCircles.net.
Most of the books recovered from the accused were printed locally while some were also printed in Delhi. None of the books contains ISBNs and has no authenticity of the writers. Mehmood Hasan confessed to having written four books himself. The material in the books is aimed at propagating the Islamic faith but contains objectionable comments against the Hindu religion, SI Upadhyay said.
When questioned about the allegations at the press conference Mehmood Hasan Gazi admitted to his involvement in the distribution of Islamic books and literature. “I have no malicious intent behind the distribution of books. We are also active in social works and helping weaker sections and the poor,” Mehmood claimed.
Police officials further informed that Mohd Monish aka Ashish Gupta converted to Islam two years ago under the influence of his uncle Saeed Ahmad who is also a convert. Monish is the eastern zonal secretary of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO). He learnt Urdu and took religious education at a madrasa in Azamgarh for a year and then joined SIO. Sameer aka Naresh converted to Islam around 12 years ago and married a woman from the Muslim community. He was working as a tailor before joining SIO, officials said.