ISI, Evangelical Cells And A Radical Preacher: How Chhangur Baba Exploited Christian NGOs And Islamists For Conversion Ops Along Nepal Border

The recent arrest of Jalaluddin alias Chhangur Baba once known as Navin Bava may have been projected as another bust in a string of illegal religious conversions, but deeper intelligence inputs suggest something far more calculated and insidious: a new model of socio-religious engineering being tested in the India-Nepal border belt, aided not just by local handlers but also by a nexus of Christian missionaries and Pakistan’s ISI.

Sources within central security agencies now reveal that Chhangur was experimenting with a ‘dual-pipeline’ conversion strategy, using both Islamic radical outfits and Christian missionary cells to target disillusioned and economically weak Hindu families in border districts such as Balrampur, Shravasti, Bahraich, Siddharthnagar and Maharajganj.

This hybrid model allowed Chhangur Baba to access two distinct funding streams: evangelical Christian NGOs for soft-stage “humanitarian conversion,” and radical Islamic networks for ideological consolidation.

According to classified intelligence inputs accessed by this reporter, certain evangelical groups operating under the guise of education and medical aid in the Devi Patan division had handed over detailed family-level data to Chhangur’s network, including caste, economic status, illness history, and even political leanings. The volunteers, often seen distributing ration kits or prayer booklets, were actually acting as grassroots informants, compiling vulnerability profiles and feeding them to a centralized data unit managed by Nasreen—Chhangur’s wife and a former Hindu woman herself.

This database reportedly became the backbone of what agencies are calling “conversion targeting”—a micro-targeted religious persuasion campaign customized for each household, where impoverished Hindus were first offered aid by Christian outfits and later ideologically nudged towards Islam using testimonies of "success stories" like Chhangur himself.

One such example was repeatedly cited: "Bava" and Nasreen, a former Sindhi Hindu couple, now living in a bungalow with luxury cars—supposedly gifted by Allah for embracing the 'true faith'. It was a well-rehearsed fable told again and again in the interiors of Balrampur and Siddharthnagar. The catch? The couple's wealth, investigators now suspect, was not divine reward—but foreign-funded.

Kathmandu Connect: Where Faith Meets Espionage

The ATS and IB have also flagged Chhangur Baba’s visit to Kathmandu in late 2023, where he is believed to have met a prominent religious leader from Nepal’s Dang district—a figure under surveillance for suspected ISI links. This meeting occurred days after a little-noticed seminar of ex-Nepalese soldiers at the Pakistani Embassy in Kathmandu. Among the attendees was Colonel Muhammad Ali Alvi, Pakistan’s military attaché, and a delegate from Pakistan’s National Defence University.

The stated objective of the event was cultural diplomacy. But shortly after, the Pakistani group—accompanied by ISI operatives—made a discreet reconnaissance trip to Nepal’s southern border with India, including areas where Chhangur Baba was already running his “faith redistribution” campaign. A leaked internal note from a regional security cell described this as “an attempt to test India’s border vulnerability using faith as camouflage.”

Interestingly, Chhangur Baba’s name first surfaced in a 2023 FIR in Azamgarh’s Devgaon area after police busted a gathering where Hindu symbols like trishuls were placed on a dargah-like structure and ‘kawwali-style’ sermons were used to devalue Hinduism. Yet despite naming 18 accused—some of whom were directly linked to Chhangur Baba —the police failed to trace the kingpin.

It took the STF nearly a year and extensive digital forensics to trace the financial trail back to Chhangur Baba. Four of his associates—Mohammad Sabroj, Rashid, Shahabuddin and Ramzan—were later formally linked in an FIR filed at the ATS station in November 2024.

ED tightens screws

Now, the Enforcement Directorate is following the money. Seven bank accounts linked to Chhangur Baba’s associate Naveen Rohra have been identified. But officials admit this is the tip of the iceberg. “There are at least 18 more accounts under pseudo names, likely connected to foreign donors,” a senior ED officer confirmed.

The ED has sought property transaction data from sub-registrar offices across Balrampur, Gonda and Bahraich to map how many assets were bought in the names of converted individuals—many of whom may have acted as ‘beneficiaries’ to cover up foreign fund inflows.

This is not just about a rogue preacher or one conversion racket. What Chhangur Pir pioneered—a fusion of faith manipulation, foreign influence, and borderland vulnerability—may be the prototype for larger subversive operations along India’s porous frontiers.

As one intelligence officer summed it up: “Chhangur was not just converting people—he was test-running a method to exploit India’s social fault lines at a strategic level.”

And that should worry more than just law enforcement.

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