GhaziabadOne hour ago
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This photo is from Thane in Maharashtra. It was arrested on Sunday by the UP Police along with the Maharashtra Police.
The kingpin of the conversion syndicate, Khan Shahnawaz Maqsood alias Baddo, will be shifted from Thane to Ghaziabad. Thane Court has approved the transit remand of Ghaziabad Police till June 15. Police told the court on Monday, we will take Baddo to Ghaziabad by road. Will travel about 1500 kms. It will take about 3 days to take it from here and present it in the court.
On this, the court said, the accused should not have any problem of food and medicine on the way. His safety should be taken care of. On Monday afternoon, the Ghaziabad police will leave from Thane in Maharashtra with Baddo. Baddo was arrested by the Ghaziabad police on Sunday evening from the sea shore lodge in Thane. He used to teach Quran to boys under the guise of winning online games.
Police also arrested two associates of Baddo
Baddo was hiding in the lodge under the name Shahbaz Khan, hiding his real name. Thane police have also detained friends Taufiq and Aryan Khan, who provided mobile sim to Baddo. After this, he was being interrogated in Thane itself.
This photo was taken when the UP police took Khan Shahnawaz Maqsood alias Baddo to appear before the Thane court.
Incorrect name and address in the register of the lodge
He reached the lodge where Baddo was staying in Alibaug at around 8 pm on 10th June. A young man and a woman were seen with him in the CCTV. This young man was said to be Baddo’s brother, while the girl was a lodge employee. In the entry register at the reception, Baddo got his name written as Shahbaz Khan instead of Khan Shahnawaz. He wrote the address New Delhi instead of Mumbra. The mobile number was also wrongly written.
Baddo was hiding after going from Mumbra to Worli and then to Alibag
Khan Shahnawaz Maqsood, 23, is a resident of Mumbra area of Thane district in Maharashtra. As soon as the Ghaziabad police reached Thane on June 1, he went into hiding in Worli area. When the police reached Worli, he ran away from here and reached Alibaug.
Thane rural police with the help of Alibaug police nabbed Shahnawaz from a hotel lodge on Sunday evening. A One Plus mobile has also been recovered from the accused. A computer has been found at the house of the accused, the police have also taken possession of it for investigation. It is being said that Baddo has accounts on social media with various fake names.
Baddo used to play this game with a minor boy from Ghaziabad, in which various targets had to be completed.
Quran was taught to meet the IICE-BOX target
In the initial interrogation, Baddo told the police, I came to know the victim minor boy from Ghaziabad in the beginning of the year-2021 through Fort Nite gaming application. This gaming app had the facility to interact between the players through a service called Discod. From this service, Baddo took the mobile number of the victim minor and started talking through phone.
From December-2021 Baddo started playing Valorant game with the victim boy. In this game IICE-BOX target has to be completed. The minor boy had to fulfill this target and he kept getting influenced by Baddo’s words.
Baddo suggested reciting a verse from Quran to meet the target. The minor boy went on bluffing to win the game. After this Baddo started sending him videos of banned Zakir Naik to brainwash him.
The Ghaziabad police had arrested Abdul Rehman, the cleric of the mosque, on 4 June. It was only after this that the name of Mumbai’s Baddo came to the fore.
What has happened so far in this case
- On May 30, an entrepreneur from Ghaziabad lodged an FIR for the conversion of his son at the Kavi Nagar police station.
- On June 4, the police arrested Maulvi Abdul Rehman of the Sanjaynagar Sector-23 mosque.
- On 7 June, Priyank Kanungo, chairman of the National Commission for Child Rights and Protection, wrote to the Ministry of Information and Technology asking it to investigate online gaming applications.
- On 8 June, Jitendra Awhad, NCP MLA from Maharashtra, objected to the Ghaziabad police’s statement of 400 conversions.
- On June 10, Maharashtra’s Mumbra police station reached Ghaziabad to investigate and collect evidence related to conversion.
- On 11 June, the Ghaziabad police arrested Baddo, the main accused, from Maharashtra.
This mosque is in Sanjaynagar of Ghaziabad. At the behest of Baddo, the son of Jain family used to go here to offer Namaz.
There were three steps of conversion, understand the whole game…
DCP Nipun Aggarwal said, the police have interrogated three victim children in this case. It has come to know that there were three steps of conversion.
- In the first step, such a gang was active which used to play games on Fort Night app on mobile-computer by creating IDs in the name of other religions. If some boys lost the game, they were made to read verses from the Quran and then after winning the game, they were made to believe in the Quran.
- In the second step, through the Discord App, Muslim boys used to chat with Hindu boys by creating a user ID named Hindu. Used to persuade them to adopt Islamic customs.
- In the third stage, he used to listen to some video speeches of banned Islamic spokesperson Zakir Naik and motivate him to adopt Islam. At the same time, he used to provide all the information regarding Islamic culture and customs.
The minor boy used to play games, then the WhatsApp chat started. Where Mumbai’s Baddo brainwashed him for conversion.
How did this conversion syndicate open?
The whole matter started on 30 May. A Jain family living in Rajnagar of Ghaziabad complained to the police. Told that my 17-year-old son used to leave the house 5 times a day saying he was going to the gym. One day I followed and came to know that he goes to the mosque for five times prayer. When I inquired with the son, he accepted that he had converted to Islam.
Police registered a case in this matter and arrested Maulvi Abdul Rehman of the mosque on 4th June. In the investigation of mobile and laptop, the police came to know that the converting gang is active on the online gaming app. In the police investigation, its mastermind Khan Shahnawaz Maqsood alias Baddo was found, who is a resident of Mumbra area in Maharashtra. On June 11, the police arrested Baddo from Maharashtra.