Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe what it claims charges of "anti-Hindu propaganda" by senior IAS officer Mohammad Iftikharuddin.
According to a statement by the Home Department, the two-member SIT will be headed by DG CB-CID G.L. Meena and ADG zone Bhanu Bhaskar.
The SIT has been asked to submit its report within seven days.
The development came after National Vice-President of Math Mandir Coordination Committee, Bhupesh Awasthi, had alleged that Iftikharuddin IAS was indulging in anti-Hindu propaganda.
IAS Ofiicer Iftikharuddin is presently serving as the Chairman of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation.
Awasthi released videos of religious programmes of the officer who was then the Kanpur Zone Commissioner.
It is alleged that in these videos, Iftikharuddin is telling people about the benefits of adopting Islam as a religion.
The purported videos also show a religious leader sitting besides the IAS officer.
In another video, Iftikharuddin IAS is seen sitting on the ground when a Muslim speaker is purportedly giving "radical lessons" at his official residence.
After the video surfaced, Kanpur Police Commissioner Aseem Arun asked Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Somendra Meena to investigate the matter.
"The investigation of the viral video taken at Kanpur Commissioner's residence has been entrusted to ADCP East, Police Commissionerate Kanpur Nagar. It is being investigated whether the video is authentic and if there is any crime in it," the official said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had summoned the Police Commissioner Aseem Arun to Lucknow on Tuesday in this regard.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said: "This is a serious matter. If there is any truth in it, it will be taken seriously."
Allegations against the IAS officer are raised about a week after Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested noted Muslim cleric Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui accusing him of running a “religious conversion racket”.
Critics however said the arrest of Muslim cleric and the latest allegations against the IAS officer are linked with the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh which is due in February 2022.
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