Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has busted a massive Islamic conversion racket in the Balrampur district involving foreign funding worth 100 crore.
The ATS arrested the head of the racket named Jamaluddin alias ‘Chhangur Baba’ along with his wife, on Saturday (5th July) from Gomti Nagar. Jamaluddin ran an Islamic conversion racket spread across the country.
His entire family was involved in the racket. Jamaluddin’s son, Mehboob and a close aide were arrested by the ATS in April this year.
Subsequently, following an investigation, the ATS registered a case against 10 people including Jamaluddin, who had a reward of Rs 50,000 on him.
Multiple FIRs lodged in different districts
Several FIRs have been lodged in different districts of Uttar Pradesh in connection with the racket. As per the FIRs, Jamaluddin and his gang lured at least 40 people to convert to Islam.
According to ADGP Law and Order, Abhishek Yash, a Special Task Force (STF), initiated an investigation against the conversion racket in which the malicious activities of the gang were uncovered.
“The STF initiated the probe into the group’s activities, uncovering a complex operation where people were lured into conversion through romantic relationships, force or allurement,” the ADGP said.
“Investigation also revealed that the gang was involved in converting minors. Financial scrutiny of its operations revealed that over Rs 100 crore were funnelled into 40 accounts from foreign sources allegedly to fund conversions,” he added.
A case was filed based on the findings of the STF, which is being investigated by the ATS.
Jamaluddin alias Chhangur Baba used to provide money to Muslim men for luring Hindu women and converting them to Islam.
The Muslim men used to fake their identities and take Hindu names to target Hindu women. Jamaluddin used to perfrom Muslim marriages (Nikaah) of these Muslim men with Hindu women whom they lured or forced to convert.
He and several members of his gang reportedly travelled to Islamic countries around 40 times.
Jamaluddin fixed prices for conversion of Hindu women based on their caste
“Investigations revealed that for the past 3-4 years, Jamaluddin and his family had been residing near Chand Auliya Dargah and portrayed himself as a Sufi saint Hazrat Baba Jamaluddin ‘Peer Baba’. He also published a book, ‘Shijra-e-Tayyaba’, to propagate Islam,” an ATS officer was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
However, even after converting, Jamaluddin and his family had their official documents, like passports, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and property records in their Hindu names.
“In one of these cases, a woman from Lucknow was allegedly lured into a relationship by a Muslim man who used a Hindu identity. She was coerced by Neetu and others to convert,” the ATS officer said.
“Jamaluddin ran a gang and had a fixed incentive structure for conversions. Rs15-16 lakh was fixed for conversions of Brahmin, Sikh or Kshatriya woman, Rs 10-12 lakhs for OBCs and Rs 8-10 lakhs for other castes,” the ATS officer added.
Police recovered a diary from Jamaluddin’s residence containing the names of more than 100 people who could be potential targets of conversion. Considering the gravity of the case, the Uttar Pradesh police have sought a multi-agency probe, involving the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case.
Chhangur Baba amassed huge wealth using foreign funding
As per reports, Jamaluddin, who used to sell rings, has amassed huge wealth by operating the conversion racket, which particularly targeted Hindu women. He has bought properties worth crores, built showrooms and bungalows and luxury cars using foreign funding within a year. He has been living in Balrampur for 3-4 years at an address belonging to a Hindu family of three, Ghanshyam Arora (husband), Neetu Arora (wife) and Samale (daughter) which was brainwashed and converted to Islam. After conversion, the family changed their identities and adopted Muslim names and became Jamaluddin, Nasreen and Sabiha respectively.