KANPUR: A senior IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh has been accused of carrying out propaganda against Hinduism. The allegations have been levelled by National Vice President of Math Mandir Coordination Committee Bhupesh Awasthi against IAS officer Mohammad Iftikharuddin.
Mohammad Iftikharuddin is presently serving as the Chairman of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation.
Awasthi released videos of religious programmes of then Kanpur Zone Commissioner Mohammad Iftikharuddin. It is alleged that in these videos Iftikharuddin is telling people the benefits of adopting Islam as a religion. The purported videos also feature a religious leader sitting beside the IAS officer.
In another video, IAS Iftikharuddin is seen sitting on the ground when a Muslim speaker is purportedly giving radical lessons at his official residence. After the video surfaced, Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Kumar Arun gave the responsibility of investigating the entire matter to Addl DCP (East) Somendra Meena.
"The investigation of the viral video of IAS officer Mohd Iftikharuddin taken at Kanpur Commissioner's residence has been entrusted to ADCP East, Police Commissionerate Kanpur Nagar. It is being investigated whether the video is authentic and if there is any crime in it," tweeted Police Commissionerate Kanpur Nagar.
Asked about the issue, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "This is a serious matter. If there is anything like this, it will be taken seriously.