BENGALURU: Banashankari police arrested five people, including a 55-year-old former BBMP corporator, on allegations of forcibly converting a 26-year-old Dalit man to Islam. The victim, identified as Sridhar Gangadhar, a native of Maddur in Mandya district, had stated that the accused compelled him to undergo circumcision and converted him to Islam. The case was first filed with APMC police station in Navanagar of Hubballi, against 12 accused on September 9, and was recently transferred to Banashankari police station.
The former corporator of Banashankari ward, Ansar Pasha, is said to be a close aide of a city MLA. He was a corporator from the Congress party and resident of KS Layout. His friend Nayaz Pasha, a resident of Banashankari, and Hajisab alias Shameem Shaliq, a resident of KS Layout, were arrested. The other two arrested are Attavar Rehman of Mandya and Shabbir Khan of KS Layout.
All five were remanded in judicial custody. “Accused number 1 Rehman brought the victim to the masjid on the pretext of resolving his financial issues. Both Rehman and the victim knew each other for the past two-and-half years. Accused number 3 Nayaz Pasha illegally kept the victim at the masjid, accused number 2 Hajisab preached about Islam to the victim, and the former corporator is accused number 5 for supporting the two accused. Shabbir Khan is accused of being part of the gang. The case was transferred in the first week of October to Banashankari police station as the masjid is in its jurisdiction,” said an officer.
Nayaz Pasha is the president of Khabristan Masjid and Hajisab is an imam (priest) in the masjid. The victim had stated that he was compelled to eat beef against his wish and his name was changed to Mohammed Salman. He added that the accused converted him at gunpoint and also made him hold the pistol and took his photograph, and threatened to frame him as a terrorist by posting it on social media. He was also asked to convert at least three Hindus a year. He was taken to mosques in Tirupati and other places.