UP Police busts another gang running illegal religious conversion racket

Lucknow : In a fresh crackdown on illegal religious conversions, the Yogi government has busted another racket targeting young women through lure, deceit, and radicalisation. Acting swiftly after the arrest of Jalaluddin alias Changur, police have now arrested 10 more accused from multiple states.

DGP Rajiv Krishna said the illegal conversion racket was uncovered during an investigation into the disappearance of two sisters from Agra, under the state-wide Mission Asmita launched on CM Yogi’s instructions. The probe revealed the girls were brainwashed and illegally converted.

As the investigation deepened, police unearthed shocking details—crores in international funding from countries including Canada, the US, and Dubai were being used to fuel religious fanaticism and convert girls through lure and radical indoctrination. The gang’s methods and funding patterns resembled those of global terror outfits like ISIS. So far, 10 people, including a woman, have been arrested from six states.

DGP Rajiv Krishna said Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar was assigned to lead the investigation into the missing Agra sisters. Seven teams were formed, and with crucial inputs from surveillance and the cyber cell, the police tracked the girls to Kolkata and safely rescued them.

Based on information provided by the sisters, teams conducted raids across six states and arrested the 10 accused. Initial findings point to the gang’s links with PFI, SDPI, and Pakistani terror outfits. The DGP added that, under CM Yogi Adityanath’s leadership, the UP Police is taking strict action against crime and anti-national elements as part of its ‘zero tolerance’ policy.

DGP Rajiv Krishna said that under Mission Asmita, several organised illegal conversion rackets have already been busted, including cases involving Mohammad Umar Gautam and Mufti Jahangir Alam Qazmi, who forcibly or deceitfully converted hundreds. In the Agra case, the accused targeted young women and minor girls, trapping them through love, job offers, financial aid, and religious misinformation.

Victims were emotionally manipulated and later pressured, or enticed into conversion. A similar syndicate run by Jalaluddin alias Changur was recently exposed, with ongoing investigations by STF and ATS. The gang’s modus operandi mirrored ISIS’s radical module, using social media, the dark web, and mobile apps to brainwash youth and push them toward conversion.

Those arrested in connection with the illegal conversion racket include: Ayesha alias S.B. Krishna (Goa), Ali Hasan alias Shekhar Roy (Kolkata), Osama (Kolkata), Rehman Qureshi (Agra), Abbu Talib (Khalapar, Muzaffarnagar), Abur Rehman (Dehradun), Mohammad Ali (Jaipur), Junaid Qureshi (Jaipur), Mustafa alias Manoj (Delhi), and another accused Mohammad Ali (Jaipur).