The Uttar Pradesh Police have invoked the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act against all the accused in the alleged Mirzapur gym conversion racket, in which Muslim gym owners and trainers are accused of targeting Hindu women, trapping them in relationships, blackmailing them with obscene material and pressuring them to convert to Islam, as reported in OpIndia.
Police have named 10 accused in the case, all of whom are currently lodged in jail. Authorities have also shut down the five gyms allegedly used by the accused to run the operation – KGN-1.0, KGN-2.0, KGN-3.0, B-Fit and Iron Fire.
The case first came to light in January this year after two women from Mirzapur lodged separate complaints at different police stations. In their complaints, the women alleged that gym trainers and owners initially befriended them under the guise of fitness training before gradually drawing them into romantic relationships. The women alleged that after establishing physical relationships, the accused secretly recorded obscene photographs and videos and later used them to blackmail and extort them while forcing them to convert to Islam.
During the course of the investigation, police claimed to have uncovered a wider network allegedly involved in harassing, blackmailing and coercing female gym members into religious conversion. Investigators alleged that the accused deliberately targeted Hindu women who enrolled in the gyms and used the fitness centres as recruitment hubs for identifying and trapping potential victims.
Police said the accused operated with the intention of securing unlawful financial and other gains for themselves and their associates. According to investigators, the accused used social media platforms to identify, approach and monitor women. Once the victims were drawn into relationships, the accused allegedly established physical relations with them, recorded compromising material and then used it for blackmail, extortion and coercion.
Officials stated that more than 50 women were allegedly targeted by the network.
The accused include a police constable identified as Irshad Khan, a Maulvi named Khalilu Rahman and Faizal Khan, a bodybuilder who won the titles of ‘Mr Mirzapur’ in 2019 and ‘Mr Purvanchal’ in 2022. Police also named a Muslim woman, Sanno, as an accused in the racket. Investigators alleged that she was tasked with gaining the trust of Hindu women and helping lure them into the network.
The accused have been booked under multiple charges, including intentional insult intended to provoke breach of peace, extortion, criminal intimidation, assault or criminal force, and unlawful religious conversion. Police said further investigation into the alleged racket is ongoing.
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