Ghaziabad, June 12: Shahnawaz Khan, the key accused in an alleged online gaming and religious conversion scam, was tracked down to Worli in Mumbai before being apprehended in Alibaug on Sunday late at night by Mumbra Police.
Following Khan’s participation in online gaming and religious conversion cases, Ghaziabad Police requested the aid of Mumbra Police, and a combined operation was launched to apprehend him, but he fled with his mother and brother.
According to reports, Thane Police requested assistance from Mumbai Police, but Shahnawaz Khan had already altered his location and eloped to Alibaug.
Mumbra Police raided numerous lodges in Alibaug overnight after getting information that Khan had been hiding there since Saturday morning. Khan was eventually apprehended with the assistance of the Alibaug Police.
Khan informed authorities that he first met the victim (a youngster) through Fortnite, an online gaming game, in early 2021.
Later, they swapped phone numbers and began conversing via the game’s Discord function, eventually becoming friends. After a few days, the victim quit playing Fortnite and joined Valorent. They were then linked on the gaming platform in December 2021.
While playing the game, they arrived at the objective area, Ice Box, where they had their first chat about religious conversion and discussed televangelist Zakir Naik’s lecture. Khan’s home was searched and a mobile phone, an iPad, and a PC were confiscated, all of which he used to access the gaming software.
His Instagram and WhatsApp accounts are being investigated. On May 30, an FIR was filed against Khan in Ghaziabad within the jurisdiction of the Kavi Nagar police station. The suspect’s digital identity was given by the victim’s family as Baddo.
The genuine identity of the accused, Shahnawaz Maqsood Khan, 23, from Thane, was discovered after the cyber squad monitored his position.
A Maulvi from Ghaziabad was identified as the second accused. They had converted two Hindu boys and one Jain child.
The accused were utilising the Fortnite game to gather the targets together on one platform and interacting with them under a Hindu identity. They used to persuade the victims that reciting the Quran would help them win the game. They built their trust this way, and then gradually transitioned them to the Discord chat engine.
When the guys arrived at the chat engine, they were presented Zakir Naik videos. Following their conversion to Islam, the victims were shown films of Tariq Jameel, a Pakistani Islamic television preacher and member of Tablighi Jamaat, who was responsible for converting them.
