The Nagpur police on Wednesday night arrested a cleric, the third accused in a case of alleged rape, blackmail, and forced religious conversion of a woman, after he surrendered, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rushikesh Singareddy told The Indian Express.
A four-member police team had been dispatched to Madhya Pradesh to trace the cleric, Mohammad Maqsood, 38, who was believed to be hiding in Chhindwara district. However, he had absconded before they reached the location, the police said. The woman had named Maqsood as Hazrat Maulana.
Maqsood, who teaches in a madrassa, told the police that he had no role in the case, a senior police inspector at the jurisdictional police station told The Indian Express. “The victim had come wearing a burqa. I have no role in this matter and have been falsely implicated. I do not perform marriages; I only deliver religious sermons,” Maqsood reportedly told the police.
The police said Maqsood is a resident of Chandmeta village, around 28 km from Tamiya in Parasia, Madhya Pradesh. While surrendering, he brought along two Nagpur residents to the police station to allegedly establish his innocence. According to the police, the two men vouched for him and claimed that they had benefited from Maqsood’s guidance.
The police will seek the cleric’s custody and interrogate him regarding his alleged role in the case, including the circumstances surrounding the alleged conversion rituals and the involvement of the other accused.
The development comes days after the Nagpur police registered an FIR on June 12 on the complaint of a 24-year-old married woman that she was drugged, assaulted, and blackmailed, and forced into marriage and conversion to another religion. The cleric is accused of participating in the alleged forced conversion.
Black magic and occult rituals
As per the FIR, he allegedly performed occult rituals on the woman at Tamiya village in Madhya Pradesh and coerced her into accepting Islam and entering into a religious marriage with the prime accused, Ayyaj Taj Madare. The FIR adds that Maulana performed “black magic” on her, and under its influence, she agreed to accept Islam and have a nikah with Madare.
With Maulana’s arrest, all three accused named in the case, including Madare, 26, and accomplice Aamin Sheikh, 30, are now in police custody.
The police said Sheikh claimed during interrogation that he had not accompanied the prime accused and the victim to Madhya Pradesh. However, the victim had alleged that he had threatened to defame her and subjected her to verbal abuse.
The police have also recorded the statement of the victim’s roommate. Madare and Sheikh have been remanded to police custody till June 21.
The FIR was lodged under sections 64 (rape), 308 (extortion), 296 (obscene acts and songs), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with sections of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.
According to police, the woman had kept it all a secret from her husband till she received a threatening call when he was at home. The couple then approached the police.
Further investigation is underway.
Cleric Mohammad Maqsood being taken to court on Thursday. The police will seek his custody and interrogate him regarding his alleged role in the case. 
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