MEERUT, May 19 -- Authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district have started a probe into allegations that around 3,000 Sikhs living in villages near the India-Nepal border have been converted to Christianity through coercion, inducements, and false promises, officials said.

The issue, raised by the All-India Sikh-Punjabi Welfare Council when a delegation of it met Pilibhit DM Sanjay Kumar Singh on Friday, has sparked concerns about internal security, with local Sikh leaders pointing to foreign agencies allegedly operating through Nepal as potential orchestrators of the conversions.

On May 13, an FIR was registered against eight named and several unknown accused at the Hazara police station on charges of illegal conversion. DM Sanjay...