ISIS link: Zakir Naik's aide Arshid Qureshi allegedly converted 700
Synopsis
Though religious conversion is not a crime, forceful conversion is punishable under law Police is looking into the method adopted by Qureshi for the mass conversion The team is awaiting the analysis result of the digital documents seized from the foundation
Arshid Qureshi, who was arrested from Navi Mumbai on 22 July in a joint operation by Kerala police and Maharashtra ATS for his suspected Islamic State (ISIS) links, has converted 700 persons to Islam, according to police. The conversion took place at the Mumbai office of the Islamic Research Foundation - founded by controversial Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik.
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Reports quoting police officials said that the documents for the conversion were prepared by Qureshi's aide Rizwan Khan, who also signed as the guardian of the new converts. Police suspect that the converts also included some of the youths missing from Kerala. During questioning, Qureshi is known to have revealed that he had visited Kerala several times.
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Based on the information received during the interrogation, the investigation team is planning to include three more persons, including Ashaq, a native of Padanna in Kasargod, as accused in the case. Police also found evidence that Ashaq, who left the country recently, was in constant touch with Qureshi. In the coming days, the probe team will try to identify the persons converted by Qureshi and to find if any of them had any ISIS links.
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In a recent raid at the Islamic Research Foundation in Mumbai, the police had recovered several documents related to religious conversion. Since the documents are in Urdu, the probe team is in the process of translating them.
Though religious conversion is not a crime, forceful conversion is punishable under law. Hence, the investigation team is looking into the method adopted by Qureshi for the mass conversion and to find out whether the converts were offered money. The team is awaiting the analysis result of the digital documents seized from the foundation during the raid for getting more clarity in the matter.