Thane cops nab prime accused in UP app-based conversion case

THANE: The Ghaziabad police with the assistance of the Thane city police have arrested the prime accused in the alleged online gaming app and religious conversion case registered by Ghaziabad police in Uttar Pradesh. The police said Shahnawaz Khan, alias Baddo, 23, was caught in Alibaug. Khan was named by cleric Abdul Rehman, arrested earlier by Ghaziabad police.
"A team of Ghaziabad police approached Thane police and sought help to nab Khan. His location was initially traced to Mumbra and a team from Mumbra police station, along with Ghaziabad police, launched a manhunt," said Ganesh Gawade, deputy commissioner of police (zone-1) of Thane city police. Based on technical analysis of Khan's mobile phone and those of his relatives, he was initially found to be holed up in Worli, but then moved to Alibaug and was hiding in a lodge, an officer said.
The police zeroed in on the lodge and started checking the rooms. "He was found in a room along with his brother. We seized his phone, iPad and other gadgets which were purportedly used in conversions," said a police officer. The Thane police said he will be handed to Ghaziabad police who will take him to Ghaziabad on transit remand for further probe.
A senior police officer explained the alleged modus operandi as claimed by Ghaziabad police, "In a gaming application, the accused would befriend minors with fake names and would tell them that if they wanted to win they would have to recite certain verses. The accused would make them win and trap them by sending videos of (fugitive preacher) Zakir Naik."
A team of Thane crime branch camped in Ghaziabad to find if the case had any links with Mumbra, which falls under the jurisdiction of Thane city police. Sources informed that the crime branch checked the case papers registered with the Ghaziabad police and verified alleged claims concerning Mumbra. But the Ghaziabad police are believed to have said that they have not found anything on allegations of "400 conversions" as they had earlier heard from a legislator from Gujarat. Sources said the Ghaziabad police reportedly clarified to Thane crime branch that they had only "heard it" and they did not claim that conversions had actually occurred in Mumbra.
Recently, when a senior police officer from Ghaziabad told journalists that he had "heard" of 400 conversions in Mumbra, it evoked a sharp response from NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad who threatened to stage a protest if the state government failed to get clarification from Ghaziabad police over its "mass conversion" claims. Awhad said such statements malign the image of Mumbra.