14 arrested on charges of being 'fake babas' in Uttarakhand: Police

Dehradun, Sep 7 (PTI ) Fourteen people have been arrested so far under the 'Operation Kalanemi', the Uttarakhand government's initiative to fake 'babas' allegedly involved in cheating and converting people's religion, officials said.

Inspector General of Police (Crime and Law and Order) Nilesh Anand Bharane told in a press conference here that under 'Operation Kalanemi', police have questioned more than 5,500 people in the state, out of which preventive action was taken against 1,182 people.

Fourteen people have been arrested, some of whom are Bangladeshi citizens, police said.

The Uttarakhand Police began the operation in July. In August, officials in Uttarakhand said that 300 people had been arrested under Operation Kalanemi, after questioning 4,000 people in the state.

Bharane said the operation has achieved remarkable success and a large number of people have been questioned under it.

In Haridwar, 2,704 people were checked and three of them were arrested, whereas in Dehradun, 922 people were checked, out of which five were arrested.

Police has been taking action in Tehri, Pauri, Almora, Nainital and other districts as well, he said.

Bharne said the campaign aims to retain the "sacred image of Devbhoomi".

The officer said a person arrested under the operation was a Bangladeshi citizen living in Selaqui as a Bengali doctor, Amit Kumar, for the last eight years, with the help of fake documents.

Ifraz Ahmed Lolu, a resident of Anantnag in Kashmir, was arrested from Selaqui for getting into relationships with women by hiding his religion and posing as a rich man from Delhi named Raj Ahuja, he said.

Operation Kalanemi is named after Kalanemi, the demon son of Ravana's uncle Maricha. Kalanemi, mentioned in both the Ramayana and Mahabharata, disguised as a sadhu who tried to stop Lord Hanuman from procuring the 'Sanjeevani Booti'. He was reborn as Kansa, Lord Krishna's uncle, in the Mahabharata. PTI DPT SKY SKY