Indore, June 17 Congress Councillor in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Anwar Qadri, has been booked for his alleged involvement in 'love-jihad' and 'funding' for the nexus operating religious conversion, the police said.
A case against Qadri was registered at the Banganga police station in Indore on the basis of the statement of two persons arrested for allegedly sexually harassing Hindu women and forcing them for religious conversion.
"Anwar Qadri has been booked under the Religious Freedom Act. Action came on this basis of the statement of two persons, who were arrested under the charges of sexual harassment and religious conversion on Friday," Indore Additional Deputy Commissioner Of Police (DCP) Rajesh Dandotiya told IANS.
Additional DCP Dandotiya also said that Congress leader Qadri has been been made a co-accused in the case and an extensive search has been initiated to arrest him.
Action would be taken on the basis of further investigation, he added.
Initially, the matter camwe to light after two women from the Hindu community approached the members of Hindu organisations on Friday.
Upon receiving information about the incident, Hindu activists nabbed two accused persons and handed them over to Banganga police.
Meanwhile, Hindu activists also released a video, wherein arrested persons identified as Shahil Shaikh and Altaf Ali were seen confessing their crime.
In the viral video, the accused duo also claimed that they were acting on the direction of Anwar Qadri.
The accused persons also claimed that Qadri had encouraged them to target Hindu girls, carried out religious conversion and forced them into prostitution.
"He (Qadri) was providing money for targeting Hindu girls for the last few years," said the accused persons in the viral video.
Santosh Sharma, a Vishva Hindu Parishad leader in Indore, claimed that Altaf and Shahil used to target Hindu girls through social media.
Sharma also alleged that Qadri, who is an influential leader among the minority community in Indore, was involved in several other criminal cases.
"They (accused) befriended the victims identifying themselves as Arjun and Raj through social media accounts. Later, the accused developed physical relations with them and started blackmailing them for religious conversion," Sharma told IANS.
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