The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out sweeping raids on 14 locations across Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra linked to Jalaluddin alias Chhangur Baba a self-styled godman allegedly running one of the most expansive illegal conversion syndicates in the country. The action comes amid mounting concerns about the use of foreign funds, hawala channels, and shell accounts to destabilise religious demographics in India.
The crackdown began early on July 17, with 12 locations raided in the communally sensitive Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh an area already under scrutiny for coordinated conversion attempts and two strategic locations in Mumbai: Bandra East and Mahim West.
According to ED sources, Chhangur Baba whose original name is Jamaluddin has been running an extensive conversion racket from Balrampur, luring individuals under the pretense of spiritual healing, economic aid, and religious salvation. What appears on the surface to be a network of spiritual ashrams is now emerging as a front for laundering illicit funds and executing coercive conversions using financial and psychological manipulation.
The probe suggests that Chhangur’s network is not isolated but rather deeply entrenched, with key operatives positioned across states and even abroad. Several bank accounts in the UAE and Nepal have come under the scanner, believed to be channels for foreign remittances disguised as charity or donations, but actually funding ground-level conversion operations and illegal property deals.
The ED has zeroed in on a suspicious transaction involving Rs 2 crore, traced from Naveen Rohra alias Jamaluddin a close aide of Chhangur to a man named Shehzad Sheikh in Mumbai. Sheikh is currently being interrogated after the ED raided his residences at Kanakia Paris Apartments in Bandra East and Rizvi Heights in Mahim West.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the funds were reportedly intended for purchasing property but were later routed through multiple accounts—potentially to mask their origins. ED officials suspect that the transaction was just the tip of the iceberg, pointing toward a sophisticated hawala network being used to pump illicit foreign funds into Indian soil for religious and political engineering.
In a shocking revelation, ED unearthed at least five foreign bank accounts linked to Chhangur Baba in Sharjah, Dubai, and the UAE:
- Axis Bank (Sharjah & Dubai)
- HDFC (UAE)
- Emirates NBD Bank
- Federal Bank (Vostro Account)
The nature of these accounts and the volume of transactions are now being examined, with authorities tracing links to foreign-based handlers, possibly connected to Islamist financing networks active in the Gulf and Nepal.
Investigators suspect that money flowing from these foreign accounts has been systematically used for:
- Funding coercive conversions in rural India
- Acquiring properties via benami transactions
- Financing front organisations under NGO or spiritual banners
- Maintaining a web of paid agents, handlers, and sympathisers across India
At the 12 locations raided in Balrampur spanning Utraula, Madhupur, and Rehramafi villages ED teams seized:
- A large cache of land ownership papers
- Hard drives, mobile phones, and digital records
- Cash suspected to be unaccounted or hawala-sourced
- Records of foreign remittance trails and property holdings
Digital forensics teams are now sifting through encrypted communication records and financial data to unearth the larger network of Chhangur’s syndicate.
Officials involved in the investigation say that Chhangur Baba is no mere self-styled spiritual figure. He is allegedly the kingpin of a subversive ecosystem that exploits religious faith for political and demographic manipulation. Evidence suggests coercion, emotional exploitation of vulnerable communities, and misuse of spiritual spaces to funnel foreign funds for disruptive purposes.
There are also concerns that his ashrams may have been used as recruitment or indoctrination hubs, with sleeper cells or conversion agents posing as spiritual disciples.
ED is now expanding the probe to trace all of Chhangur’s associates, including property managers, disciples acting as fund conduits, and affiliated NGOs. Many of these organisations have received foreign funds under the guise of humanitarian aid and education but are now being investigated for misuse of funds under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Furthermore, initial intelligence indicates that Chhangur’s associates may have invested in benami properties in several cities across UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, and even Karnataka. Intelligence reports accessed by central agencies hint at a larger conspiracy behind Chhangur’s operations part of a structured agenda to alter religious demographics in certain districts of Uttar Pradesh and bordering regions using financial coercion, social pressure, and foreign support.
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