On Wednesday, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested 18 individuals from a village in Azamgarh for attempting to forcefully convert Hindus to Islam. The accused persons were arrested and sent to jail after the police conducted a raid in the village on May 24. The police have also recovered several incriminating documents and material from the arrested persons.
According to the reports, the accused persons have been identified as Farid Mohammad, Mohammad Sabroz, Ramzan, Rasheed, Sahabuddin, Sikandar, Mohammad Javed, Faiyaz, Parvez Azam, Irfan, Sabir Ali, Javed Ahmed, Haseena, Usha Devi, Akash Saroj, Awadhesh Saroj, Pannalal Gupta and Kundan Benvanshi. These arrested persons have been booked under relevant relevant sections of the law.
The incident is said to have happened in the Chirkihit village of Lalganj under the Devgaon police station area. A late-night event was organized in one of the houses of the village by the accused persons who were attempting to convert Hindu persons from the village. The accused had established photos of Muslim religious leaders and a Trishul in the program. Further, a program of Qawwali was also organized to give this conversion event the form of a cultural program.
The mastermind of this whole program has been identified as Sajjad who also has been arrested by the Police. A mazaar-like structure was established at the event and the Hindus were made to believe that all their existent diseases would be cured in the event. The house where the event was organized belongs to one Awadhesh Pasi who had been going to Deva Sharif of Barabanki for the past five years.
By glorifying the negative aspects of Hinduism and the positive aspects of Islam, the people assembled at Awadhesh Pasi’s home were duped into joining Islam. Also, the religion of Islam was discussed by Qawwal Farid Ahmed, who had arrived from Balrampur for the event. In this, the beliefs of the Hindu religion were described as hypocritical and false. People were instigated against following Hinduism.
The State police were informed by one of the persons from the village. On being informed Senior Police Inspector Anurag Arya reached the spot and arrested 18 people including two women from the spot.
All these accused are residents of Azamgarh, Mau, Gonda and Balrampur districts. The Police confirmed that all these accused persons were tricking the innocent Hindu people of the village. The Hindus were also being lured for money. Seven tridents, two religious photos, two drums, a sound mixer, a harmonium, a sound box, bhagona, gas stove, bullet, tempo, car, generator etc. have been recovered from the possession of the accused.
SP Anurag Arya has formed a special team under the leadership of Lalganj CO Manoj Raghuvanshi to investigate the matter. Along with this, police station Devgaon and local intelligence officials have been deployed. The police are also trying to know whether there is any other group of these people, which is engaged in such activities.
SP Anurag Arya also said that as soon as the information was received, a police team in civil dress was sent to the spot at night. These arrested persons have been booked under relevant relevant sections of the law. Further investigations into the case are underway.
