Conversion mafia’s time is up as the NIA, ED and NCPCR come together to investigate the Islamist racket

The conversion racket which was busted by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) recently, under which over 1,000 people were lured into Islam will now be investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The Islamic conversion racket run by them – with the support of Pakistan’s ISI primarily targeted the economically weaker sections of society, women, children and the disabled. The racketeers targeted deaf and mute children and illegally converted them to Islam. Others, the gang lured into Islam using money, jobs and marriages.

Now that the NIA has taken up the investigations into the conversion mafia being run across the nation – the perpetrators operating across India are expected to be nabbed shortly and brought to task. According to Republic World, the police department that was so far probing the case has already started with the paperwork for handing it over, and thereafter it will be probed by two units of NIA – the Uttar Pradesh as well as the Delhi units.

TOI had reported recently that the conversion racket busted in Uttar Pradesh was active in at least 24 other states across India. Additional director general of police (ADG) law and order, Prashant Kumar, said investigators are reaching out to families who embraced Islam due to intimidation or after being lured. He confirmed that the gang had a well-oiled machinery with a countrywide reach.

With the NIA now taking over investigations into the racket, the largescale Islamic conversion mafia will soon stand exposed across India. In addition, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has already filed a money laundering case, will also be probing it. The ED has filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the religious conversion racket.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the District Magistrate (DM) and the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Fatehpur district on Friday saying that the statutory body has taken suo moto notice of matter under Section 13(1)(j) in the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, pertaining to the conversion of children from Nurul Huda English Medium in Fatehpur to Islam by Umar Gautam’s gang of Islamists.

Reportedly, a teacher named Kalpana Singh at an English Medium school in Fatehpuri had sounded the bugle, three months ago that the Maulana was trying to force his way through with the children by trying to convert them. According to an Amar Ujala report, Kalpana remarked that in 2020, Umar Gautam visited the school with 20 to 25 Maulanas. Before that, Umar had already frequently visited the school and had established a connection with the school authorities.

Reported extensively by TFI, the duo of Mohammad Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi ran an organisation named Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC), along with their other associates. According to several media reports, it is being suspected that Umar’s conversion racket received foreign donations from NGOs based in the US, Qatar, and Kuwait. IDC has links with the Islamic Online University founded by Qatar-based Salafi preacher Dr Bilal Phillips, who is an associate of Zakir Naik.

Now that the NIA, ED and NCPCR have all swung into action, the conversion racket cannot be hidden for long – and will be exposed for the extravagant Islamist mafia that it is.