IAS officer accused of promoting conversions ‘fails to get clean chit’

KANPUR : IAS officer Mohd Iftikharuddin, accused of promoting religious conversions, was denied a clean chit by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its 550-page report submitted to the state government late on Tuesday night, said officials privy to the investigations.

The UP government had formed the SIT to probe videos purportedly showing IAS officer Mohd Iftikharuddin preaching Islam and allegedly making a pitch for conversions at his official residence in 2014-2016 when he was commissioner of Kanpur division.

The officer was questioned for 16 hours recently. Iftikharuddin had provided copies of three books authored by him to the SIT but did not answer pointed questions. He kept pleading innocence, said officials.

The investigation began after three videos of the officer went viral on social media on September 6. People in the video, including the officer, were purportedly describing Islam as the best and made objectionable remarks on other religions. Convener of Mutt Mandir coordination committee Bhupesh Awasthi had complained to the chief minister on the IGRS portal, following which the SIT was formed on September 28. It was headed by CB-CID director general Gopal Lal Meena and ADG (Kanpur zone) Bhanu Bhaskar. The government had given the SIT a week to submit the report, but the deadline was extended as the team had to go through the seven-hour-long video footage and a number of books to find out the purported objectionable content and remarks.

THE OFFICER WAS QUESTIONED FOR 16 HOURS RECENTLY