BABA OR BLACK SHEEP?

A SMALL-TOWN MUSLIM SEER STANDS ACCUSED OF HEADING A SINISTER AND ELABORATE CONSPIRACY OF MASS CONVERSION AT THE BEHEST OF UNKNOWN FOREIGN PAYMASTERS

- AVANEESH MISHRA

FOR OLDER RESIDENTS OF REHRA MAAFI, a village on the outskirts of Utraula town in Balrampur district, old images of Jamaluddin—now known as Chhangur Baba—are still vivid.

A thin, swarthy man from the Pankhiya Muslim community, with six fingers on his right hand (hence the moniker Chhangur), cycling between villages, selling trinkets and rings. Once elected pradhan, he is remembered for bridging the Yadav-Muslim divide. On July 5, however, following a manhunt, when the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested the 70-year-old along with an associate, Neetu alias Nasreen, in Lucknow, they described him as the head of an elaborate and organised illegal conversion racket with wide reach across the state. Indeed, Chhangur had long exchanged his bicycle for a Toyota Fortuner, moved with armed guards and owned multiple properties. According to the ATS, his operations allegedly spanned fake identities, foreign funding, document forgery and multiple aliases. A raft of serious charges has been brought against him and his associates—including conspiracy to wage war against the state, promoting religious enmity, cheating and violating sections of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. The police said earlier arrests (on April 8) included Mumbai native Naveen Rohra (husband of Neetu), known as Jamaluddin after his conversion to Islam, and Chhangur’s son Mehboob.

Just a few kilometres from Rehra Maafi, in Madhpur village, stands Chhangur’s five-bigha (1.65 acres) estate, close to the mazaar (shrine) of Chand Auliya Shah Baba. One section of the high-walled compound has been demolished by the district administration after the arrest. A senior police officer says seven dogs of foreign breeds and a horse were recovered from the site.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS