MEERUT, Sept. 30 -- Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, a prominent cleric in western Uttar Pradesh, has long been a controversial name in the region. He is known for his fiery speeches and political posturing. Police records show that a total of 17 criminal cases have been filed against him, including multiple FIRs linked to riots.

Over the years, he has tried to position himself as a community leader while maintaining ties with the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Born in the 1970s in Bareilly into a family of Islamic scholars, Raza is a great-grandson of Ahmed Raza Khan, founder of the Barelvi movement within Sunni Islam.

He is the younger brother of Maulana Subhan Raza Khan, the custodian of the Ala Hazrat Dargah in...