Mohammad Ali, one of ten people recently arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police in a major illegal religious conversion racket, has told police he wants to leave Islam and return to Hinduism. Ali, originally named Piyush Panwar, said he was also a victim and wanted to reunite with his family, who cut ties with him after he converted.
He’s currently lodged in an Agra jail and reportedly broke down during questioning, telling police that he regrets his decision and wants to apologize to his parents.
Ali’s journey began in 2021, when he met a woman named Shana from Tonk, Rajasthan. They fell in love, but Shana said she would only marry him if he converted to Islam. Piyush agreed, changed his name to Mohammad Ali, and embraced Islam. However, Shana later rejected him.
After the rejection, with no support from his family, Ali married another Muslim woman from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.
During his conversion process, Ali got involved with Mohammad Gaus, a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI)—an organization banned by the Indian government in 2022 for alleged ties to terrorism. Gaus introduced him to Kaleem Siddiqui, a Delhi based cleric who was convicted in a different conversion case last year.
Ali later went to West Bengal to receive religious training and stayed at madrasas in Asansol, Bardhaman, and Katwapara for three months.
Through Instagram, Ali came into contact with Ayesha from Goa about a year ago. Police say Ayesha maintained a list of girls who were converted. She is among the ten people arrested in this case and is believed to be closely connected with Ali.
According to Agra Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar, the conversion gang was being funded from Canada and the US. The investigation began back in March after two sisters, aged 33 and 18, went missing from Agra. Police believe the sisters were targeted by this same gang as part of a larger effort involving "love jihad" and radicalisation.
Ali was arrested in Jaipur, and he has named several others linked to the racket, including individuals connected to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI)—a group also under investigation.
The others arrested under the UP Police's ‘Mission Asmita’ crackdown are:
Hasan Ali and Osama from Kolkata
Rahman Qureshi from Agra
Abu Talib from Muzaffarnagar
Abdur Rehman from Dehradun
Junaid Qureshi from Rajasthan
Mustafa from Delhi
Police say the group’s working style has signs similar to that of ISIS, especially in how they carried out conversions and radicalised individuals.
Just days earlier, UP’s Anti-Terrorism Squad had also arrested Chhangur Baba, also known as Jamaluddin, believed to be a key mastermind behind another conversion racket.
The arrest of Mohammad Ali, formerly Piyush Panwar, has added a new twist to the ongoing investigation into illegal religious conversions in India. His claim of being a victim, his desire to return to Hinduism, and the detailed confession about his connections offer a closer look at how these networks operate. With more arrests and deeper links coming to light, the UP Police say they are determined to fully dismantle such syndicates under Mission Asmita.