Mysuru: A father and son who were following Islam returned to the Hindu fold today at the Arya Samaj in the presence of Sri Ram Sene Chief Pramod Muthalik and members of various other Hindu organisations. The two who returned to Hindu fold by converting from Islam to Hinduism are G. Seshadri who was earlier called Syed Abbas and his son Harshit Arya who was earlier called Syed Atiq. The vedic rituals according to the Arya Samaj rites were performed by chief priest H.V. Naveen Arya.

Seshadri and Harshit were welcomed back to the Hindu fold when the Yagnopavita (sacred thread) ceremony was performed as both of them had the thread across the chest and they did the Sandyavandane.

G Seshadri son of late D. Govindaraju of Veerahalli village in Srirangapatna taluk had eloped with a Muslim woman about 10 to 15 years back. They had married and he had converted to Islam and changed his name to Syed Abbas. The couple had two sons. Later, the wife had left him along with one son.

The  father and son decided to come back to the Hindu fold, a Ghar Vapsi. Priest Naveen Arya told Star of Mysore that there was no coercion on the part of the Arya Samaj and the father and son had decided to come back on their own volition. Hence, they had produced ID proof and affidavit in this regard.

There was strong police bandobust on Kotwal Ramaiah Street where the Arya Samaj is located. Devaraja Sub-Division ACP B.S. Rajashekar led a team comprising Inspector H.M. Kantharaju, Udayagiri Inspector Santosh, Nazarbad Inspector G.Shekar and Mandi Police Inspector Lakshmikanta Talwar, to avoid any untoward incident. However, the whole event passed off peacefully.

More than 200 members of the Sri Rama Sene, Arya Samaj activists and Viswha Hindu Parishat participated.