Kanpur: In a dramatic incident, Kanpur police on February 4 arrested Samajwadi Party leader Amir Zaidi after chasing him for nearly six kilometres in the Ghatampur police station area. Zaidi was attempting to flee on a scooter when he was apprehended by Inspector Dinesh Singh Bisht.
Zaidi is accused of sexually exploiting a Hindu woman and coercing her to convert to Islam. The victim filed a complaint against Zaidi and three others after he allegedly attempted to disrupt her wedding. Based on the complaint, police registered a case under provisions related to rape, criminal intimidation, as well as sections of the POCSO Act, the IT Act, and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
In her complaint, the victim stated that Zaidi met her in 2013, when she was a minor and grieving the loss of her father. She alleged that he exploited her vulnerability, lured her into a relationship, sexually assaulted her, and recorded obscene videos. She further claimed that he continued to assault her on multiple occasions, threatening to make the videos public.
The victim’s family later arranged her marriage for 18 September 2025. After learning about this, Zaidi, along with his associates, Shani alias Sunny Abbas, Rizvi, and Raja alias Akhtar Ansari, allegedly began threatening her and pressuring her to convert to Islam. The complaint states that he also circulated her obscene videos to her relatives, including her prospective in-laws, in an attempt to defame her.
Despite Zaidi’s attempts, the victim’s in-laws did not call off the wedding. The engagement ceremony was peacefully held on 29 October 2025, and the wedding is scheduled for 14 February. After failing to stop the marriage, Zaidi and his associates reportedly began threatening the groom and his sister.
Zaidi allegedly contacted the groom and his sister using fake identities and obtained the groom’s phone number. He then called the groom to a location near the Naubasta Galla Mandi cremation ground in Kanpur and threatened him. According to the victim, Zaidi told her that he would not allow her to marry a Hindu man. Police had been searching for Zaidi since the case was registered.
