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The NIA/ATS special court in Lucknow on Wednesday sentenced 12 accused to life imprisonment, including Maulana Kalim Siddiqui, in an illegal religious conversion case.
The court has further sentenced the other four accused, Rahul Bola, Mannu Yadav, Kunal Ashok Chaudhary and Salim to 10 years of imprisonment along with fines according to the relevant sections imposed on them. Special Judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi pronounced the sentence on 16 convicts. Maulana Kalim Siddiqui was arrested in September 2021 for running a nationwide syndicate of illegal religious conversion racket. Apart from Maulana Kaleem, other convicts are, Prakash Rameshwar Kavde, Faraz Babullah Shah, Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qazmi, Mohd. Salim, Kunal Ashok Chaudhary, Dheeraj Govind Rao Jagtap and Sarfaraz Ali Jafri, Kaushar Alam, Bhupriya Bandho, Irfan Sheikh alias Irfan Khan, Rahul Bhola alias Rahul Ahmed, Mannu Yadav Abdul Mannan, Salahuddin Zainuddin Sheikh, Abdullah Umar. They have been convicted under the charges of Section 121 A), Section 123, Section 153 A and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. There are a total of 17 accused, out of which 16 have been convicted. Maulana Idris Qureshi was arrested recently and has got a stay from Allahabad High Court. In 2021, Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui from Meerut for allegedly running a nationwide syndicate for massive religious conversion. Siddiqui, an Islamic scholar and president of an Islamic Trust, was accused of running a mass religious conversion racket through several organisations and schools he funded and by receiving funding from international organisations. He was also accused of promoting enmity between different religious groups and disturbing India's sovereignty and integrity. (ANI)
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