Meerut (UP), Oct 29 (PTI) Four people, including three women, were arrested on Saturday following allegations of religious conversion here, police said.

An FIR was lodged against nine people and a probe ordered following a complaint by residents of Mangatapuram Colony here, they said.

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According to the complainants, during COVID-19, some people provided food and financial assistance to the poor in Mangatapuram Colony and then allegedly forced them to convert to Christianity, the police said.

According to the complaint, the accused also threw pictures of Hindu deities from houses in the locality.

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"On protesting or complaining, the accused come home with knives and sticks and threaten to kill," the complaint stated.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajwan said a case was registered against nine people and four of them were arrested.

Chhabili alias Shiva, Binwa, Anil, Sardar, Nikku, Basant, Prema, Titli and Reena were booked under Section 3, 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Conversion Prohibition Act, he said.

Of these, Prema, Titli and Reena were arrested, the SSP said, adding efforts were underway to arrest the others.

While there is no mention of the number of conversions, local BJP leader Deepak Sharma claimed that more than 100 people had allegedly been converted to Christianity.

"This has been going on for the past three years. During the COVID-19 period, people were given ration and money to convert to Christianity. Now, other people are being threatened to convert as well," Sharma alleged.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)