Bhopal: Saurabh alias Mohammed Saleem was among the 16 people police arrested in Bhopal and Hyderabad last week on the suspicion of having connections with Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), a radical organisation, media reports said.

The Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) took action and apprehended the accused due to their alleged participation in planning terrorist activities.

Madhya Pradesh's Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, disclosed that the arrested individuals comprise a diverse group, including a professor and a gym trainer, among others.

Preliminary investigations suggest that they were involved in activities related to "love-jihad" and religious conversions.

The authorities are now further probing their alleged involvement in these matters.

Speaking to the news agency ANI, Saurabh’s father, Ashok Raj Vaidya, an ayurveda doctor by profession, said how he discovered Saurabh was lured to convert to Islam, and how he changed his name to Mohammed Saleem.

"In our family, we allow our children to choose their life partners from other faiths and do not call it 'religious conversion," Saurabh's father Ashok Raj Vaidya told ANI.

Vaidya said, "I first observed Saurabh's activities and arguments in 2011. He began distancing himself from our family functions and religious festivities. Sometime later, his wife also started wearing Islamic dresses. It was then that I tried explaining things to him."

"I asked Saurabh to leave our house," Vaidya said.

Additionally, Vaidya revealed that he had reported the entire incident to the police. However, the police declined to take any action as they determined that Saurabh had willingly converted to Islam. Saurabh's father also mentioned that during his college days, a certain individual named Dr. Kamaal used to be frequently seen around Saurabh.

"Later, we came to know Dr Kamaal was an agent of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and was arrested. He taught my son Islamic prayers," he said.

"Saurabh used to watch speeches of Zakir Naik on his computer. I even recovered several Islamic books from his room. Watching Syrian news on TV, Saurabh used to talk about Islam and why they were attacking Syrians," Vaidya said.

According to the terror suspect's father, Saurabh had also attended numerous Islamic events organized by "big personalities".

Vaidya had gone to the extent of writing a letter to the Congress-led Centre, urging them to ban the broadcast of Zakir Naik's speeches.

When discussing his son's arrest, Vaidya expressed his belief that Saurabh was not engaged in any terrorist activities. However, he also stated that if Saurabh did not leave Islam, their family would not welcome him back into their home.

Saurabh's mother, Vasanti Jain, revealed that her grandchildren had started attending a madrasa, indicating their growing exposure to Islamic teachings.

In an interview with ANI, she spoke about Saurabh's Muslim friends, stating that they never allowed him to have peace and were always around him.

"I never confronted them as I was scared for my son's life," Saurabh's mother said.

She further disclosed that Saurabh had begun to stay with his Muslim friends in an apartment during the Covid pandemic.

"He even invited me to stay along with him, which I refused," she said.