Balrampur (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 21 (IANS): The Balrampur police have arrested a cleric in connection with an FIR lodged in July 2022 in which he was accused of allegedly forcing a woman and her children to embrace Islam, police said.

The accused had allegedly offered them money and assured the woman of a permanent job in return.

Incharge of Jarwa police station in Balarampur, inspector Pawan Kumar Kannaujia, said that one Krishna had lodged an FIR accusing Mohammed Shahid, a local cleric, of kidnapping his wife Karishma and their four children on the pretext of getting her a permanent job in a private company and provide them with a house.

Krishna claimed that Shahid had made the offer in exchange for Karishma and her children embracing Islam.

Allegations are that two days after her kidnapping, Karishma returned home realising that she was being 'trapped'.

Thereafter, Shahid again approached her and tried to lure her afresh. When she informed her husband about it, the latter lodged an FIR.

Police said Shahid escaped from Balrampur the day the FIR was lodged.

Kannaujia said, "We had tip-offs regarding his (accused) whereabouts in Delhi and Mumbai but he managed to escape."

Shahid had come to Balrampur to meet his ailing relative and this time he was arrested.