Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui arrested from UP’s Meerut for running ‘biggest conversion syndicate’

Siddiqui was arrested three months after Delhi's Jamia Nagar residents Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam were apprehended by the ATS on June 20.

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui from Meerut for allegedly running the “biggest conversion syndicate”. The ATS said the cleric’s name emerged during the investigation of a case filed in Lucknow in which cleric Umar Gautam and others have been charged.

64-year-old Siddiqui was arrested three months after Delhi’s Jamia Nagar residents Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam were apprehended by the ATS on June 20. Qasmi and Gautam were running the Islamic Dawah Centre, an outfit allegedly working on ISI funding for converting deaf-mute students to Islam, according to officials.

Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order, said the ATS has so far arrested 10 people from different parts of the country in connection with its probe into the alleged conversion racket.

Special Judge of the NIA/ATS court YR Gupta remanded Siddiqui in judicial custody till October 5 on Wednesday.

The ATS sought the custody of the accused. Fixing the agency’s plea on September 23 (Thursday), the court summoned the accused from jail on that date. The ATS has already forwarded a chargesheet against six of the 10 accused. The probe against four is pending. Sub-inspector Vinod Kumar lodged the FIR in the case at the ATS police station on June 20.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Sambhal Shafiqur Rehman Barq said Siddiqui’s arrest was “wrong”. “The BJP government has no work other than targeting and harassing Muslims,” he alleged.

Giving details of the racket, the ADG said it came to light during the probe that Gautam and one of his accomplices were given Rs 57 crore by UK-based Al-Falaa Trust, but the two did not give details of the expenditure. Siddiqui’s involvement in the illegal conversion racket under the garb of running various educational, social and religious organisations was also found, the officer said.

“Foreign funding was received for this in a big way. Illegal conversion was being carried out in a planned and organised manner and many well-known institutions are involved,” he said.

Kumar said it also came to the fore that Siddiqui ran the “biggest unlawful conversion syndicate” and threatened and misled people for conversion and prepared them for “Dawah” (the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam). The ATS found that he also runs the Jamia Imaam Waliullah Trust, which carries out illegal religious conversions in the name of running “communal harmony” programmes, the officer said.

A resident of Muzaffarnagar, Siddiqui cleared the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) after getting his BSC degree from Meerut, but instead of pursuing MBBS, he joined Nadwatul Ulema in Lucknow, Kumar added. Siddiqui also funded madrasas and for this, he used to get huge amounts of money from abroad by illegal means, the ADG said.

For the purpose of conversion, Siddiqui’s self-written literature, which is available online as well as in print, was being given to people for free, he said. He was propagating that only Sharia (Islamic law) could give justice to people, Kumar said. “He used to emphasise that issues like triple talaq should be dealt under the light of Sharia,” he added.