Palanpur, Aug 29: The Banaskantha police on Monday arrested two persons for their alleged role in forceful religious conversion and demanding extortion money from three members of a family. A criminal complaint has been lodged against five members of a Muslim family identified as Sohil Shaikh, Sattar Abdul Haji, Alam Shaikh, Mustufa Shaikh and Ezaz Shaikh.

All the five accused persons allegedly lured the three members of a Hindu family to get converted to Islam and moved a petition before the High court in the name of a woman Chandrika Solanki, her daughter and son, pleading to grant them permission to live separately from their family.

Following this, the five accused persons started pressuring Chandrika's husband, Haresh Solanki to either convert to Islam and live with his wife, daughter and son as a Muslim family or pay Rs 25 lakh to the accused after which they will allow Chandrika, her daughter and son to reunite with Haresh and live as a Hindu family. Gujarat Shocker: Surat Man Ends Life After Live-In Partner, Her Brother ‘Feed Him Beef’; Accused Arrested.

Complainant Rajesh Solanki in his complaint said that because of this incident, his brother Haresh had gone into depression and on Saturday afternoon he allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison. Haresh is currently undergoing treatment.

Rajesh has alleged that two years ago, Haresh's daughter was pursuing her graduation from a college in Rasana when the main accused Sohil became friends with her. After this both fell in love and Sohil clicked compromising photos of Haresh's daughter using which he threatened her to get converted to Islam.

The accused Sohil regularly visited family members of Haresh and brainwashed his wife Chandrika and son and they too started conducting namaz at home. One day all the three left home and started living separately from their entire family but the latter had little knowledge about their whereabouts.

Palanpur police have registered a case against Sohil and four others for abetment to suicide, extortion and criminal intimidation. The case is investigated by Police Sub-Inspector B.G. Suthar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2022 04:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).