On Friday, January 6, the Uttar Pradesh police arrested former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Minister Yakub Qureshi and his son from Chandni Mahal area in New Delhi on the charges of running an unauthorised meat business. Yakub Qureshi was a minister in the Mayawati-led government in Uttar Pradesh.
Yaqoob Qureshi, who was a minister in BSP Govt in UP, arrested from Chandni Mahal area of Delhi by UP Police, with the help of Delhi Police. He has been arrested for running an unlicensed business of meat packaging&processing. Case registered against him under Gangsters Act & IPC
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 7, 2023
Yakub Qureshi has been charged with running an unlicensed business of meat packaging and processing. Meerut Police informed that the father-son duo was nabbed with the help of Delhi Police.
Yaqoob Qureshi,who was a minister in BSP Govt in UP,along with his son arrested by UP’s Meerut Police with the help of Delhi Police from Delhi’s Chandni Mahal area for running an unlicensed business of meat packaging&processing. Meerut Police had announced reward for their arrest pic.twitter.com/1kC4wrcPKP
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 7, 2023
Notably, Meerut Police had previously announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for their arrest. A case was filed against him under the Gangsters Act and the Indian Penal Code.
On March 10 last year, a case was registered against Haji Yakub Qureshi, his wife Sanjeeda Begum, his sons Imran and Feroz Qureshi, and 18 others at Kharkhauda police station. Carrying a reward of Rs 25000 on himself, Feroz Qureshi was arrested in November 2022. Feroz Qureshi was arrested from Ghaziabad for supplying substandard meat at his factory.
Former minister Haji Yaqoob Qureshi owned and ran Al Fahim Meatex Private Limited. This meat factory is situated in Village Allipur Jijmana Dhikauli under the Kharkhauda police station area. There was an illegal business of meat packaging and processing going on in the factory. Police charged 18 people, including Yakub Qureshi, his wife Shamjida, and sons Firoz and Imran, after recovering meat from the spot. Meat worth five crore rupees was caught in the factory.
Haji Yakub Qureshi is also a known Islamist who made headlines after he announced a bounty of Rs 51 crore for beheading the cartoonists of France-based publication Charlie Hebdo for publishing a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad. Qureshi later announced to give the said amount to the terrorists who had barged into the office of Charlie Hebdo armed with lethal weapons and killed 12 people including 8 journalists. Qureshi was also reportedly involved in attacking environmental activists who had started a movement for banning meat plants to save the environment.