Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Anti-terrorism squad (ATS), which recently arrested 11 alleged Hizb-ut-Tahrir members, is probing a 'love jihad' angle in the case as wives of five of the accused arrested were Hindus, who converted to Islam with two alleged HUT members themselves being converts, officials said. The HUT members arrested by the Madhya Pradesh ATS on Tuesday during a massive raid have been remanded to ATS custody till May 19 and are being interrogated by the probe agency.
Sources within the ATS said that out of the 11 arrested members, the wives of 5 were Hindus who converted to Islam. Madhya Pradesh Police is probing whether the women have changed their religion on their own will. Besides the five women, sources said that two of the arrested HUT members, were also Hindus earlier and after coming in contact with the members of the HUT members, converted and became Muslims.
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One of the said members is a professor in a medical college in Hyderabad, sources said. His name is Salim and was earlier named Sameer, they added. The Madhya Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad (MP ATS) arrested the 11 alleged HUT members during a raid in Bhopal and Chhindwara on Tuesday. In Telangana, the state police also arrested five alleged HUT members following inputs by the MP ATS.
On Wednesday, the Telangana police arrested another HUT member who was absconding during the raids launched the previous day. On Friday, the Telangana Police said that the arrested accused HUT members had planned large-scale blasts in Hyderabad through a three-prongedstrategy.