Religious Conversion Gang Busted By Agra police ; Links to Larger Network Suspected

Agra,Manvendra malhotra : In a major crackdown, Agra police have busted a religious conversion racket allegedly operating on the lines of “The Kerala Story”. Five people have been arrested from different states, and multiple teams are tracking the gang’s wider network.

Two sisters from Agra’s Sadar area, missing since March 24, were at the center of the probe. Their father had filed a missing person complaint, which later turned into a kidnapping case. Investigation revealed that Saima alias Khushbu, a woman from Jammu & Kashmir’s Udhampur, had allegedly lured and brainwashed the siblings to convert and marry them off.

The girls were traced and rescued from Barrackpore in Kolkata. Two accused — Shekhar Rai alias Hasan Ali, a Barasat court employee, and Reet Banik alias Mohammad Ibrahim — were arrested there and are being brought to Agra on a three-day transit remand. Three more suspects were nabbed from Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), Bareilly (U.P.), and Rajasthan.

Modus Operandi

Police say the gang targeted educated youth through social media, using women like Saima to lure them. Recruits, after conversion, were allegedly inducted into the network to spread Islamic propaganda. Those who resisted were threatened or pushed into prostitution.

Wider Links Under Probe

The racket, believed to have been active since 2015, is suspected to have foreign funding, though police say there’s no direct connection with the infamous “Changur Baba” network in Balrampur.

Agra Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar stated “The operation is ongoing. Raids are underway in several states to arrest more members and fully dismantle the network.”