Lucknow, Jul 24 (PTI) The alleged kingpin of an inter-state conversion racket was arrested with six others here for allegedly pressuring and inducing people to convert to Christianity, police said on Friday.
The seven were arrested by a team from the Mohanlalganj Police Station under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act.
The action came on a complaint by a villager who alleged that the group repeatedly tried to coerce him and others into converting their religion.
According to the complaint of Amit Kumar of Bharswa village, the accused tried to persuade villagers to attend church with the claim that converting to Christianity would help them have children. He also alleged that the group threatened him after he opposed their activities.
The group has also been accused of trying to influence villagers by offering treatment for illnesses, money, and help with marriage.
Witnesses told investigators that the group frequently visited the village at night in a four-wheeler and organised meetings with the locals, the police said.
One witness alleged that he was taken to a church on the pretext of treatment for knee pain and was later pressured to adopt Christianity, they said.
During interrogation, the alleged mastermind, 58-year-old Daniel, told the police that he was originally named Bala Subramaniam and converted to Christianity before marrying Subala, a native of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
Daniel told investigators that he and his wife came to Lucknow in 1998 on the instructions of the FGPC Church in Kanyakumari to propagate Christianity, the police said.
He also claimed that he was appointed pastor for the Varanasi Circle and was assigned by the church annual conversion targets.
The other arrested have been identified as Daniel’s wife, Subala, 51, Chandrabhan, 50, Aarti, 40, Seema, 35, Sheela, 39, and Ajay Rawat, 46, all residents of Lucknow district.
The police said they seized a Bolero SUV, a religious book, booklets allegedly related to religious conversion, marriage-related documents and photocopies of bank statements from the accused.
The seven were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody, they added. PTI KIS VN VN
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