Congress councillor named in ‘love jihad’ finance case surrenders in Indore court

Indore, Aug 29 (PTI) Absconding city Congress councillor Anwar Qadri, accused of funding 'love jihad', surrendered before the district court in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Friday, police said.

Qadri, who was on the run from authorities, turned himself in a day before the police were set to seize his properties, an official said.

The police had announced a reward of Rs 40,000 for providing information leading to the arrest of the councillor, who had been absconding for nearly two months.

According to the police, two young men from the city — Sahil Sheikh and Altaf Shah — had allegedly admitted during interrogation in June that Qadri had given them Rs 3 lakh to convert girls.

The duo were arrested in separate cases on charges of raping two women and other offences.

Based on statements given by the two men, a case was registered against Qadri for being involved in a conspiracy to convert girls/women through financial allurement.

Talking to PTI, Banganga police station in-charge Siyara Singh said, "After being informed about the surrender, a team was dispatched to the district court, and he was taken to the police station with the court's nod." The term "love jihad" is used by right-wing organisations to claim that Muslim men lure women of other religions into love traps to convert them to Islam.

Earlier, Indore collector Ashish Singh had issued an order to arrest Qadri under the National Security Act (NSA) to maintain public peace and law and order.

The councillor has 18 criminal cases against him at different police stations, officials said. PTI COR MAS ARU