Religious conversion accused found to have 30 Pakistani numbers in his phones: UP Police

PTI, Jun 15, 2023, 11:55 AM IST

A man who allegedly ran a religious conversion racket has been found to have 30 Pakistani contacts saved in his mobile phones, police in this Uttar Pradesh district have said. Shahnawaz Khan alias Baddo, a resident of Mumbra township in Maharashtra’s Thane, was allegedly operating at least six e-mail addresses, one of which had a few e-mails from Pakistan in the inbox, police officials said on Wednesday.

Police have seized two mobile phones of the accused as also the central processing unit (CPU) of his computer for further investigation. Khan was allegedly operating six e-mail addresses, including two for online gaming, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), city, Nipun Agarwal said.

On Tuesday, the accused was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a Ghaziabad court where he was produced after being brought from Thane on transit remand. The DCP said the cyber crime cell of the Uttar Pradesh Police is trying to ascertain further details of the 30 Pakistani phone numbers found saved in Khan’s mobile phones. He said police will invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Khan if anything incriminating comes up against him in connection with the phone numbers.

The accused is currently lodged in the district jail here and police will seek his remand from the district court for further interrogation, the DCP said.

A Kavi Nagar area resident submitted a complaint to police on May 30, alleging that his son was lured to convert to Islam through an online gaming app. Police arrested Khan from a relative’s place in Alibagh in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on Sunday. A Thane court granted Khan’s transit remand to the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday.