A day after the arrest of Shahnawaz Khan alias Baddo, the prime accused in the alleged ‘gaming app conversion racket’, a court in Thane granted transit remand to the Uttar Pradesh police, which is investigating the case registered in Ghaziabad.
The Mumbra police in Thane district had arrested Khan (23) from a resort in Alibaug in the Raigad district on Sunday evening.
After the necessary formalities and medical check up, he has been handed over to the Ghaziabad police, which would produce in a court in Uttar Pradesh.
Khan was booked under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act based on a complaint that alleged they convinced a boy to convert to Islam.
The Ghaziabad police had been camping in Maharashtra for the past few days in anticipation of the order.
A man from Ghaziabad had lodged a complaint with the police last month alleging that a cleric and Baddo had unlawfully converted his son, who recently passed the class 12 board exam, to Islam.
The complainant alleged that his son came in contact with Baddo through an online gaming app and frequently spoke to him, following which he got inclined towards Islam. The boy told his father that he had converted to Islam after being convinced by Baddo, according to the complaint.
According to reports, he was allegedly brainwashed using videos of the fugitive evangelist Zakir Naik.
Published 12 June 2023, 10:59 IST