In an illegal conversion case in the national capital, the NIA-ATS Special Court sentenced 12 accused, including Maulana Omar Gautam and Maulana Kalim Siddiqui, to life imprisonment. Another four accused received 10-year sentences each. The verdict was delivered by the Special NIA/ATS Court of Vivekanand Saran Tripathi on Wednesday. The case was registered on June 20, 2021.

Government lawyer M K Singh said that there were a total of 17 accused in the illegal conversion case. However, one of the accused, Idrish Qureshi, received a stay from the Allahabad High Court.

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The court sentenced Mohammad Omar Gautam, Salahuddin Zainuddin Sheikh, Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi, Irfan Sheikh alias Irfan Khan, Bhupriyabando Mankar alias Arsalan Mustafa, Prasad Rameshwar Kanware, Kaushar Alam, Dr Faraz Shah, Maulana Kalim Siddiqui, Dheeraj Govind, Sarfaraz Ali Jafri, and Abdullah Umar to life imprisonment.

Mannu Yadav alias Abdul, Rahul Bhola alias Rahul Ahmed, Mohd Salim, and Kunal Ashok Chaudhary alias Atif were sentenced to 10 years each.

The UP ATS busted the conversion racket following the arrest of Maulana Umar Gautam, the chairman of the Islamic Da’wah centre in Delhi’s Batla House locality, and Mufti Kazi Jahangir Kasmi, an employee of the centre, on June 20, 2021.

The racket was allegedly funded by international organisations, including Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, to convert specially-abled children and other vulnerable groups to Islam. According to the ATS, the racket was involved in the conversion of over 1,000 people in just two years before being busted in June 2021.

On Tuesday, the Special NIA/ATS Court convicted 16 accused after finding them guilty under IPC sections 417, 153-A, 153-B, 295A, 121, and 123 as well as sections of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.