Dark web, online games and Pak link: How Agra conversion syndicate targets people

Representative image of a police van.

Probe into the alleged religious conversion racket, in which 14 people have been arrested so far, has revealed that the gang behind the efforts was linked to individuals in Pakistan, who helped influence young people to make them accept Islam, the Agra police commissioner has said.

On Saturday, Agra Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar said online games were sometimes used to target young people for conversion to Islam and handlers from Pakistan played a key role in the racket.

Kumar had said preliminary investigations found that the sisters were targeted by a gang involved in 'love jihad' and radicalisation. "We found clues about their funding originating from the US and Canada," he had said.

The racket was busted last week with the arrest of 10 people from six states following an investigation. Four more people were arrested as the investigation progressed. The case came to light after two sisters, aged 33 and 18, were reported missing from Agra. One of them had posted a photo on social media holding an AK-47. This led to the arrest of 10 people from six states, followed by four more as the investigation progressed.

Police said the racket was being run under the leadership of Abdul Rehman, a resident of Delhi, who had converted to Islam in 1990, and Ayesha, a resident of Goa. Girls from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Bareilly, Aligarh and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, and Jhajjar and Rohtak in Haryana, among other places, who were targeted by the gang, have been rescued.

The racket, according to the police, was operated by two converts, Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Chacha, earlier known as Mahendra Pal, and Ayesha, formerly SB Krishna, who are now in custody. 12 other accused arrested so far have allegedly confirmed their association with them. Officials further revealed that at least three members of the group were proficient with the dark web and communicated through encrypted apps and coded signals to avoid detection.