Varanasi: The Sikandarpur police in Ballia district arrested a Christian pastor, Jose Thomas (47), of Patliputra in Patna of Bihar on charges of religious conversion. On Sunday, the accused was conducting a session for religious conversion of 15-20 women and some children inside a house in Ward-5 of the township, when police raided the house owned by one Dr Fareed in Ward-5 of Sikandarpur and arrested him. Ballia assistant superintendent of police (Northern) Dinesh Kumar Shukla said that Thomas (47) police also recovered a sack containing 124 religious books, a music system, 3 microphones, 2 cables, a sound box, a public address system, and a data cable from the spot.“During the prayer session, the accused was luring women and children to convert to Christianity. He was also found insulting Hindu deities while glorifying Christianity and luring them with offers of money and jobs,” police said.Based on the complaint, a caseunder Sections 302 and 352 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and 3/5(1) UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act was registered at the local police station. Thomas confessed that he hailed from Kerala, but to operate a conversion racket, he was staying at New Patliputra Colony in Patna.
