With the Agra Police increasing the cash reward on Nand Kishore Balmiki, the main accused in the alleged forced conversion of about 100 people in Agra recently, from Rs5,000 to Rs12,000, the self-proclaimed Hindu leader managed to dodge the ‘alert’ cops when he walked freely inside the Hari Parbat police station and surrendered before the police on Tuesday morning.
Reports said that Balmiki, who was absconding since the police registered a case against him on last Tuesday, finally decided to appear and face the legal action. The cops later produced him before the magistrate. They might also seek his police custody remand to grill him in this regard.
It may be mentioned that a FIR had been registered on December 9 against Dharma
Jagran Manch and Nand Kishore Balmiki, the outfit’s UP convener, in connection with the “forced conversion” of about 100 people, mostly Muslim slum dwellers, through a ritual carried out by the Hindu organisation on December 8. Police had registered cases under Section 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups) and Section 415 (using fraudulent means) of the IPC on a complaint by a person identified as Ismail, who was among those who was reconverted.
Police had conducted raids at various areas to arrest Balmiki and announced a cash reward of Rs12,000 on any information about his whereabouts.
On last Sunday, Balmiki had managed to give police the slip but his son Rahul and relative Krishna Kumar were arrested from a guest house in Etah district.
The issue had set off a chorus of criticism against the Government by the Opposition inside and outside Parliament. On Monday, members of Balmiki community had staged a demonstration outside the Divisional Commissioner’s office in Agra in support of the Manch’s UP convener.
Interestingly, while leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party had gone defensive, the issue of conversion in the State also took a new twist on last Thursday after disclosure of a letter of the Dharam Jagran Samiti, organising the conversion programme. The letter revealed that the organisation has to spend huge money for these programmes and sought donation in a big way from the workers.
The letter of area chief Rajeshwar Singh, of the Dharam Jagran Manch, an offshoot of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), made public on last Thursday, revealed that for converting a Muslim to Hindu, it takes Rs5 lakh each while for a Christian converting to Hindu Rs2 lakh is spent.