Muzaffarnagar: Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, a resident of Muzaffarnagar, on Wednesday in connection with religious conversion syndicate busted by the ATS.

"Investigation shows Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui's trust received Rs 3 crores in foreign funding including Rs 1.5 from Bahrain. Six teams of ATS have been formed to investigate this case," Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar told news agency ANI.

He runs Jamia Imam Waliullah trust that funds several madrassas for which he received huge foreign funding.

According to the details on his website, Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui is called as a follower and an accredited successor of Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Miyan Nadwi is a great preacher (Dāī), whose mission is 'to preach Islam and call people towards it. He has devoted his whole life to this very foremost obligation.

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"A great many people have embraced Islam. Village after village and region after region of apostates in Rajasthan, Mathura, Agra, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh have repented and embraced Islam at the hands of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui," as per the website.

Amanatullah Khan, the Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Delhi’s Okhla who was at the centre of the storm during the Shaheen Bagh protests, called the arrest “atrocity on Muslims”.

“Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, a famous Islamic scholar, has been arrested before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The atrocities on Muslims are increasing. The silence of secular parties on these issues is giving more strength to the BJP. BJP, how much will you fall to win the election?” he asked on Twitter.