Chhangur Baba's story is one of mysterious transformation: once a normal bicycle-riding astrologer, he now presides over a vast empire built on alleged religious conversion. Booked by the Uttar Pradesh ATS on July 5, the man born Jalaluddin Shah is accused of masterminding a mass conversion racket across multiple states and countries.

Investigators say this serpent-like network stretched from Balrampur to Pune, accumulating an estimated ₹300 crore across properties, vehicles, luxury assets, NGOs, and bank accounts, some flagged by the ED for suspicious ₹106 crore transactions. He allegedly funded everything using foreign money, with at least 40 bank accounts and foreign travel bolstering his illicit empire.

The ATS alleges he manipulated vulnerable girls offering romance, money, and coercion to push them into conversions, with caste-based “rate lists” documented. A massive bungalow worth ₹3 crore designed to host over 50 people was bulldozed by local authorities. Alongside secret rooms, electric fencing, CCTV, and even stables, it served as the nerve centre of his empire. The scale and structure firmly branded it a criminal empire.

Authorities are now prosecuting under anti-conversion, money laundering, and penal statutes. The ED has launched a PMLA probe to track the foreign funding that sustained this empire.

This frightening story shows how attraction and a combination of economic resources can create a huge empire of deception. Chhangur Baba's collapse from an ordinary astrologer to the accused criminal kingpin gives a strong reminder of how power can emerge from corrupt roots and then collapse in it.