Prayagraj police on Tuesday arrested three persons for allegedly running a religious conversion racket during Magh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Magh Mela is an annual Hindu fair held on the vast sands of Sangam (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati) in Prayagraj.
The three accused were arrested for selling and distributing ‘suspicious’ books and pamphlets in an attempt to motivate people to get converted to Islam, police said.
The arrested persons were identified as Mehmood Hasan Gazi (a Madrasa teacher), Mohd Monish a.k.a Ashish Kumar Gupta and Sameer a.k.a Naresh Kumar Saroj.
Two accused were arrested from the Mela area while they were distributing books and pamphlets allegedly containing objectionable comments against the Hindu religion at the behest of a Madrasa teacher who was arrested from his home in the Kareli area, police officials said.
Police said ‘suspicious’ Islamic books, pamphlets, and identification documents were found in the possession of the three accused, two of whom had converted to Islam two years ago and were members of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO).
The alleged racket came to light after some persons raised objections to the distribution of ‘objectionable’ material and informed police about the two youths who were distributing books and pamphlets in the Mela area at a kiosk on Monday (January 16).
UP: Mehmood Hasan Gazi, Mohd Monish and Sameer arrested for spreading ill information about Hindu texts and propagating conversion at Magh Mela in Prayagraj.
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— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) January 18, 2023
The two youths were detained on Tuesday night and police initiated an investigation following the complaint.
On Tuesday, police presented three accused at a press conference at Prayagraj Police Lines and claimed that they were involved in a conversion racket and were receiving foreign funding for the purpose.
This story was originally published in twocircles.net . Read the full story here