The investigators are scanning the bank account details of Mohammad Kaleem, a B.Tech graduate who was apprehended on June 9 following a complaint of religious conversion filed against him by a shelter home’s caretaker, Sandeep Sagar, sources in Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
Sagar, the caretaker at the Turkman Gate night shelter, alleged that Kaleem had been pressuring him to convert to Islam by offering inducements such as a government job, wedding proposal and financial incentives.
The police have also found 60 religious videos in Kaleem’s mobile phone.
“He had created WhatsApp groups in the name of welfare programmes in which videos and conversion content were regularly posted. When the investigators scanned his phone, around 60 religious videos were recovered from it which he had even shared on the WhatsApp groups,” sources said.
The sources also said that after Sagar claimed in the complaint that he was even offered Rs 1 lakh to get converted, the police have taken the details of Kaleem’s bank accounts to find out if he was getting any funding through hawala or e-wallet.
According to sources, the accused has also informed the police about three other bank accounts in Agra, Bharatpur and Seelampur madrassas. However, the accounts are yet to be scanned by the police.
The investigators suspect that Kaleem was getting funding to run the conversion racket.
As per the FIR, Sagar had also met two persons at the shelter home, Feroz and Zeeshan, who used to live there. Kaleem used to visit the Turkman Gate night shelter to meet Feroz and Zeeshan. The trio would collect money for a madrassa in Delhi.
“Kaleem forced me to watch some videos on YouTube. He told me that Hinduism has no virtues. He also told me that if I convert to Islam, he would arrange a marriage for me. Additionally, I was promised Rs 1 lakh per month and a government job if I did what he said,” Sagar alleged in the FIR.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Sanjay Kumar Sain, had said that suspicious items have been recovered from the cellphone of Kaleem.
“We received three complaints against him from three different individuals. The accused is a B.Tech graduate. We have lodged an FIR and arrested him. However, before reaching any conclusions, we would like to further investigate the matter,” Sain said.
As per the FIR, Kalim had forced two Hindu youth, Sujit Kumar and Vicky Sharma, to convert to Islam. Kalim told them that Hinduism had flaws and also made significant efforts to lure them into his trap.
Sagar has also alleged that recently Kalim succeeded in converting a Hindu youth named Sanjeet Kumar to Islam. Sanjeet is now living under the name Abbas.
The investigators have reportedly found videos of controversial preacher Zakir Naik in Kaleem’s phone.
“One of the WhatsApp groups was ostensibly about drug de-addiction. But there was nothing related to de-addiction in it but only contents related to conversion,” sources said.
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