Telangana: Police track down missing boy, refute conversion claim of parents

Nagarkurnool (Telangana) [India], January 2 : A boy in Telangana's Kalwakurthy, who was allegedly taken away for forceful religious conversion at extremist training camp, was later found to have left the house of his own volition to marry a girl from a different community who he loves, the police informed on Monday.
The parents of the boy, identified as Shiva Ramchari, an adult, alleged that their son had been missing for 20-30 days, adding that he had fallen in love with an adult Muslim girl.
The boy's parents had further alleged that their son had been taken to an extremist training camp for being converted into Islam.
However, the Nagarkurnool police refuted the claims of 'religious conversion' and 'extremist training' after tracking the boy down and bringing him back.
Kalwakurthy DSP Giribabu said Shiva decided to convert to Islam by himself.
"We found the boy. He fell in love with a Muslim girl and insisted on conversion. We tried to advise him against it but he said he likes Islam and will marry the girl come what may. He claimed to have run away from the torture perpetrated on him by his parents. All reports about conversion and terror training is fake," the DSP said.
The police further informed that in a video recorded by them, the boy confessed to visiting Vijaywada to learn Namaz (Muslim prayer) and that no one forced him to do so.
"I work in an egg shop at Kalwakurthy. I went to Vijayawada to learn Namaz and no one forced me to do so. I went there almost 10 days ago and informed my mother on call that I was in Vijayawada on some work. No one forced me to go anywhere," the boy said in the video.
Earlier, the boy's father had lodged a complaint claiming that he had been missing for the last 20 days.
"I am a carpenter from Kalwakurthy. My son is missing for the last 20 days. He had been working in a nearby egg shop for the last eight years. He never did anything like this before. We came to know that we went to a Muslim meeting in Vijayawada. I have lodged a complaint. Please bring my son back to me," the father told reporters earlier.
Shiva's mother said he was in love with a Muslim girl.
"He told me that he is in love with a Muslim girl and wouldn't be back home for a month. Some people said he went to Vijayawada. Now, everyone is saying that he converted to Islam," she said earlier.