Kingpin, aides suspected to have amassed Rs 300-crore properties

The kingpin of the alleged religious conversion racket, Jalaluddin Shah alias Chhangur Baba, and his associates are suspected to have amassed properties worth over Rs 300 crore from Balrampur to Pune in the past few years, said senior police officials privy to the investigation.

- Rohit Kumar Singh

Nearly Rs 106 crore transactions from different bank accounts will now be under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the officials said.

The Lucknow unit of the ED on Tuesday registered a case under appropriate sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Chhangur Baba and his associates, taking cognizance of UP ATS report for alleged transactions worth several crores in over a dozen of bank accounts operated in the names of different NGOs floated by him and his associates.

“The ATS investigation so far had revealed transactions of over Rs 106 crore from these bank accounts in the past few years and they suspected foreign funding behind all these transactions,” a senior police official said.

“Chhangur Baba and his associates had travelled to different Islamic countries over 50 times in the past few years,” the official added.