A complaint was filed against nine people, including Fefdawala Haji Abdul, a local who now lives in London, for allegedly luring over 100 rural tribals from 37 families of the ‘Vasava Hindu’ community in a village in Amod taluka of central Gujarat’s Bharuch district to convert them to Islam with the help of foreign funds.
“The accused persons took advantage of the tribal community’s poor economic condition and illiteracy to lure them into conversion to Islam over a long period,” an Amod police station official said, adding that “the accused persons took advantage of the tribal community’s weak economic condition and illiteracy to lure them into conversion to Islam over a long period.”
“For a long time, Muslim radicals used funds obtained from overseas to conduct unlawful religious conversions in the village. The accused suspects lured members of the Vasava Hindu community by promising them money and other assistance in order to convert them to Islam falsely, as part of a criminal conspiracy to create hostility between members of two faiths and disrupt peace “In a statement, Bharuch police added
Fefdawala Haji Abdul, a native of Nabipur in the Bharuch region who now resides in London, would raise finances for religious conversion from overseas, according to the report.
According to police, the nine people were arrested under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, as well as Indian Penal Code sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 153 (B) (C) (act likely to cause dissension), and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation).
The nine accused are Shabbirbhai Bakerywala (Amob), Samajbhai Bakerywala (Amod), Abdul Aziz Patel (Kankariya), Yusuf Jivan Patel (Kankariya), Aiyub Barkat Patel (Kankariya), Ibrahim Puna Patel (Kankariya), Fefdawala Haji Abdulla (London), Hasan Tisli (Achhod), Ismail Achhodwala alias Delawala (Maulvi – cleric from Achhod).
The case has been turned over to the DySP of the SCST unit of the Police Department. According to the lawsuit, Pravin Vasant Vasava and others from Kankariya village were threatened with losing their Hindu faith. A death threat was also made, according to the complaint. However, a cautious Kankariya resident filed a complaint.