- Police busted a religious conversion racket, arresting four individuals.
- Accused lured economically weaker communities using religious literature.
- Religious books, phones seized; financial transactions under investigation.
Sitapur (UP), Jun 9 (PTI) Police have busted an alleged religious conversion racket, arresting four persons accused of luring people from economically weaker and Scheduled Caste communities for conversion, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
The racket operating under the banner of the “Central UP Mission Network” was unearthed in the Misrikh police station area on Monday following an investigation by local police.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Durgesh Singh said the police arrested Suresh Chandra, Kamlesh Kumar, Shravan Kumar and Arun Ashudashan, all natives of Kerala.
During interrogation, the accused told police that they had been associated with the “Central UP Mission” and used to visit different localities to distribute religious literature among economically weaker and uneducated people, Singh said.
“The accused were connected through a WhatsApp group of the organisation and were actively involved in its activities,” the ASP told reporters.
According to the police, the investigation revealed that regular prayer meetings were allegedly organised at various locations and contact with people was also maintained through social media platforms.
Police have recovered 529 religious books, 151 pamphlets and four smartphones from them, Singh said.
A case has been registered at Misrikh police station under relevant provisions of the BNS and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, he added.
“The recovered mobile phones have been sealed for technical examination. Preliminary scrutiny indicates evidence related to a WhatsApp group and certain suspicious financial transactions, which are being investigated,” Singh said.
Police said further investigation is underway to ascertain the network’s activities, identify other persons linked to the organisation and probe the financial trail connected to the alleged conversion racket. PTI COR ABN SHS
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
