The Ghaziabad city in Uttar Pradesh has got itself embroiled in a new phenomenon wherein Islamists are luring young children to convert to Islam through online games. At the heart of this controversy are 3 Hindu boys and 1 Jain boy who have been identified as victims, brainwashed to follow practices of Islam including offering Namaz five times a day through an online game called Fortnite.
The incident came to light after an FIR was registered on 30 May at Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar police station based on the complaint of the minor Jain boy’s parents alleging that their “son was lured into accepting Islam while playing an online game.”
Following the complaint, a special team of UP Police was sent to Thane, Maharashtra which arrested Shanawaz Khan alias Baddo, the mastermind behind Ghaziabad’s gaming app conversion racket, in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
Another accused identified as Maulvi Abdul Rehman alias Nanni s/o Mehmood Ansari or Sanjaynagar in the Madhuban Bapudham Police Station area of Ghaziabad was apprehended by the police.
During the investigation, police found out about the sinister approach the Islamists utilised to manipulate their teenage targets. The police revealed that the Islamists targeted children who were fond of online games so that it would be easier to lure them. Explaining the modus operandi, the police said that the perpetrators mainly used two apps namely the online game Fortnite and another online platform called ‘Discord’ to entice their targets. Discord is a free text, voice and video chat app that is incredibly popular among gamers for a variety of reasons.
The sinister plot of the Ghaziabad conversion racket where Islamists were luring children through online games
The police said that there were multiple steps involved in luring Hindu and Jain boys towards Islam.
In the first step, Muslim men created ids with Hindu names and played Fortnite games with unaware players of the Hindu and Jain communities. The perpetrators manipulated the settings of the game in such a way that however hard these players tried they kept losing to the game. When they lose, the accused forced them to recite Islamic verses suggesting it will help them win. Later, they would let them win to establish trust.
In the second step, they were lured into following Islamic practices. The victims were added to the online chat group called ‘Discord’. While chatting on the online app, the accused gradually indoctrinated them with Islamic practices and taught them how to pray. The kids were then told to visit the nearest mosque. The accused convinced the children that they would win the game if they read Namaz five times a day.
Now that the children were aware of the Islamic customs including performing Namaz, the accused used to approach them directly and start brainwashing the child to abandon their religion and embrace Islam.
In the third step, they would share videos of fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and Islamic speeches to brainwash the victims. Using these videos, they would inform them about Islamic practices and lure them to embrace Islam. Once they convert to Islam, videos of infamous Tablighi cleric Tariq Jamil were shared to make them extremists. Zakir Naik was declared a fugitive by the Government of India. He was banned by Indian Govt in 2015.
In the final stage, the clerics and Maulvis stepped in. The children were introduced to Maulvis who used to convince the children to read Namaz in the mosque. They were forbidden to involve their parents or any family members. Once the gang felt that the child was radicalised and completely brainwashed they converted them to Islam. After this, the accused asked the victims to confront their parents and reveal the truth.
The police also revealed that initially, the accused targeted the children through the online gaming application ‘Fortnite.’ After letting the victims win 2-3 consecutive games, the accused convinced these children to play other games on their gaming channels on YouTube where they were then lured to watch their gaming videos. The gang members were mostly shown winning in these videos so that victims would be drawn to them and be impressed by this Islamic group.
When the victims urged the gang members to teach them these games on their app, they would encourage them to join Discord, where they were indoctrinated in the name of Islam and subsequently coerced into converting to Islam.
Even though this new conversion strategy has so far only been prominent in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, anyone and everyone is susceptible to this phenomenon. As the Ghaziabad police continue their investigation into the enormity of the crime, it is imperative to raise awareness about the dangers lurking in online gaming and take proactive measures to safeguard vulnerable individuals, especially children and teenagers.
