Three people, including a US national, were arrested on Saturday for allegedly attempting to convert to Christianity residents of a village in Maharashtra`s Thane district, police said, reported news agency PTI.

The arrests were made based on a complaint lodged by a villager, who claimed that the accused had held a gathering outside a resident`s house in the Chimbipada area of Bhiwandi on Friday afternoon, an official said, reported PTI.

As per the first information report (FIR), books on Christianity were allegedly distributed to men, women, and children gathered at the spot and prayers were recited. The accused also allegedly told villagers that conversion would cure them of their ailments, he said, reported PTI.

The police have arrested James Watson (58), a US national, Sainath Ganpati Sarpe (42), a resident of Vasai, and Manoj Kolha (35), outside whose house the meeting was held, the official said, reported PTI.

The trio have been booked under sections 299 (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India), 302 (uttering words etc, with a delibrate intent to wound religious feelings of any person), and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Foreigners Act and Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, he said, reported PTI.

The local police are probing further into the incident, the official said.

Woman held for stealing jewellery from commuters at Thane railway station

In another case, the Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested a 33-year-old woman allegedly involved in a series of thefts in Thane railway station in Maharashtra and recovered stolen jewellery worth Rs 2.72 lakh from her, an official said on Saturday, reported PTI.

With the arrest, the GRP claims to have solved six theft cases reported at the railway station.

A team of plainclothes police personnel deployed at the station apprehended the accused, Kavita Satish Lokhande, resident of Ulhasnagar, after she allegedly snatched a gold ornament worth Rs 1.05 lakh from a commuter who was boarding a local train on September 23, the GRP stated in a release, reported PTI.

“The accused attempted to flee through the crowd, but was immediately chased and captured,” it said.

During interrogation, the woman confessed to her involvement in other thefts, and verification of case records revealed she was involved in five more cases, the GRP said, adding that valuables worth Rs 2.72 lakh were recovered from her, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)

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