An official on Saturday confirmed arrest of three persons under anti-conversion law from Maharshtra's Nagpur by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh police. The case was registered in Lucknow.
ATS on Friday night nabbed the trio from Ganeshpeth area in Nagpur city. They were staying at Hansapuri which falls under the jurisdiction of Ganeshpeth police station.
According to the police official in Nagpur, the accused were identified as Prasad Rameshwar Kavale (from Nagpur), Kausar Alam Shaukat Ali Khan (from Jharkhand) and Bhupriya Bando Devidas Mankar (from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra).
The UP police’s ATS had arrested some persons last month and claimed to have busted a nationwide racket of religious conversions. An FIR was lodged with Gomtinagar police station in Lucknow under the state's anti-conversion law.
The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, which was promulgated in November last year, prohibits unlawful religious conversions and nullifies marriages if they are carried out for the sole purpose of religious conversion. The law provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of Rs 50,000 under different categories.
The UP police had said that they had recovered a register from some of the accused persons arrested earlier. The register carried details of over 1,000 persons from Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhin with their names and addresses mentioned in it, they had said.
(With PTI Inputs)
