LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has formed a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by an Additional Director General rank officer, to probe into the funds received from abroad by madrasas in the state.
There are around 25,000 madrassas in Uttar Pradesh and over 16,500 are recognised by the state Board of Madrasa Education.
“We will see how the money received through foreign funding is spent. We will check if the money is being used to run madrasas or for any other activities,” said Additional Director General, ATS, Mohit Agarwal.
The other two members of SIT are the Director of the Minority Welfare Department J. Reebha and the SP, Cyber Cell, Triveni Singh. The agency will focus more on madrasas active in districts along the Indo-Nepal border.
Agarwal said that no time frame has been mentioned by the government yet to complete the probe. Both the registered and non-registered madrasas will be part of the probe.
The SIT has already sought details of madrasas from its board. Last year in August, the Yogi Adityanath-led government directed district magistrates to conduct a survey of unrecognised madrasas. During the two-month survey, 8,449 madrasas that were not recognised by the state madrasa education board were found to be functioning.
Apart from Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Shravasti, Siddhartha Nagar and Bahraich adjacent to the Nepal border, more than 1,000 madrassas are being run in many other nearby areas.
Sources said that the number of madrasas in these areas has increased rapidly in the last few years.
Besides, information was also received about these madrasas getting foreign funding.
The minority welfare department had also investigated unrecognized madrasas in many districts, in which it was also revealed that many madrasas were receiving foreign funding as a source of income.
Recently, ATS arrested three active members of a gang involved in the illegal entry of Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingyas. The investigation revealed that foreign funding of Rs 20 crore was received in three years through a Delhi-run NGO, which was being used to help them.