UP ATS arrests Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui for suspicious activities

Lucknow, September 22: Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a Muslim cleric from Meerut on Tuesday night for allegedly running India's largest religious conversion syndicate. The arrested cleric has been identified as the Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui. The 64-year-old Islamic scholar is one of the biggest clerics from western UP whose name popped up during the investigation into the Umar Gautam case.

According to Uttar Pradesh Police, Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, a resident of Muzaffarnagar was involved in illegal conversions under the guise of various educational, social, and religious institutions.

"These conversions were happening at a countrywide level. For this purpose, funding has been done from foreign countries.It has also been proved that Siddiqui runs the biggest religious conversion syndicate in the country," the police said in a statement.

Police said Siddiqui "misleads and intimidates" non-Muslims for religious conversion."He used to circulate printed material and upload videos on social media to influence people.

The accused also runs a trust 'Jamia Imam Waliulla'," it informed. In the investigation so far, Police said it was found that Siddiqui's trust received Rs 3 crore funding including Rs 1.5 crore from Bahrain. After the arrest, Siddiqui was taken to ATS headquarters for interrogation. He was then produced before the court.

Also Read | UP ATS busts mass conversion racket! Arrests two for religious conversion of 1000+ people

UP ATS has demanded police custody of Siddiqui for further interrogation. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh ATS has constituted a six-member team to investigate the matter.

On June 20, Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam were nabbed from the Jamia Nagar area in Delhi. Both the men used to run the Islamic Dawah Center, an organisation alleged to have received funding from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for converting deaf-mute students to Islam. The ATS has so far arrested 10 people besides Siddiqui in connection with the investigation, officials said.