Co-accused in UP religious conversion case arrested in Thane district

“When a team from the UP Police came to the city, they took help from the local Mumbra police to arrest Khan. However, when the police teams reached his residence, it was found locked. The police teams then tracked the mobiles of Khan and his relatives.

“Initially, their location was traced to Worli. However, by the time the police team reached there, the accused had fled,” Gawde said.

“Eventually, the accused was found at a lodge from where he was placed under arrest,” he added.

Gawde said Khan and the boy who is alleged to have been converted met on Fortnite gaming application in 2021. They also began talking on messaging platform Discord where gamers usually communicate with each other. The duo shared their numbers with each other and spoke regularly.

Khan told the police they stopped playing games for a while. Eventually, in December 2021, they started playing the Valorant game.

“In the game when they reached the ‘Ice box’ stage, the duo began talking about religion for the first time and they discussed a speech by Zakir Naik,” the officer said.

The accused played games on the computer he had at his residence. He has a mobile phone and accounts on social media platforms, the police added.

Earlier, the UP Police said they had registered an FIR on May 30 against one Abdul Rehman, said to be a cleric at a mosque, for allegedly intending to target youngsters on gaming platforms and converting them. After arresting Rehman, the police said they were on the lookout for Khan.