Hindu girl lured and abducted by Muslim man posing as Hindu in Meerut; accused wore kalava and used fabricated name for deception

Case ID : 30a97cb | Location : Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 13 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a97cb

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

13 July, 2026

Hindu girl lured and abducted by Muslim man posing as Hindu in Meerut; accused wore kalava and used fabricated name for deception

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Wears symbols of Hinduism

Case Summary

In Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu schoolgirl studying in Class 12 was lured and abducted by a Muslim man, Moinuddin, who was posing as a Hindu. The accused targeted the Hindu girl, who belonged to the Dalit community, by using a fake Hindu identity on Instagram and by wearing a kalava, a sacred Hindu thread worn around the wrist, to conceal his religious identity. According to the victim's family, the girl, an Intermediate student, came into contact with Moinuddin through Instagram. They stated that the accused had created a fake social media account under the Hindu name "Mannu Ji Bansal" to conceal his Muslim identity. Through this account, he befriended the girl, gradually gained her confidence, and subsequently took her away on 14 July 2026. The girl's father lodged a complaint at Bhavanpur Police Station, following which the police registered a case and initiated an investigation. On the instructions of senior police officials, multiple police teams were constituted to trace the missing girl. During the investigation, the police examined digital evidence, including the accused's Instagram account and other technical inputs. The investigation also uncovered photographs of Moinuddin in which he was seen wearing a kalava, a sacred Hindu thread, on his wrist. Police further scrutinised call records and other digital evidence as part of the investigation. Technical surveillance indicated that the mobile phone locations of both the accused and the victim were in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, prompting the police to dispatch teams there. Further investigation revealed that Moinuddin had previously worked at a salon in Indore. Police also conducted searches in Rajasthan while simultaneously questioning the accused's family members to gather information regarding his whereabouts. Following news of the girl's disappearance, office-bearers of several Hindu organisations reached Bhavanpur Police Station and demanded her immediate recovery. They warned that if prompt action was not taken, they would launch a protest. The victim's family expressed grave concern for her safety and urged the police to rescue her at the earliest. They stated that they had been making repeated visits to the police station and the offices of senior police officials in search of assistance. Meerut Rural Superintendent of Police Abhijeet Singh stated that several police teams were continuously conducting raids to recover the missing girl and arrest the accused. He said that searches were carried out at all possible locations based on technical evidence and that efforts to trace both the victim and the accused were ongoing.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, the primary category selected is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is: Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary categories selected are: Name Changed and Wears Hindu symbols. When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by mala fide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore making it a religiously motivated hate crime. This case was added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because a school-going Hindu girl was targeted through a carefully planned deception in which a Muslim man concealed his religious identity, adopted a Hindu name, and wore a kalava, a sacred Hindu thread, to present himself as a Hindu. The deliberate use of a Hindu religious identity to gain the confidence of a Hindu girl made religion central to the offence and established the religious basis for its inclusion. A kalava is a sacred thread worn by practising Hindus as a symbol of faith, religious observance and spiritual identity. By adopting the Hindu name "Mannu Ji Bansal" and wearing a kalava, the accused intentionally created the impression that he belonged to the same religious community as the victim. This deception was instrumental in overcoming the religious barrier that would ordinarily have existed and enabled him to befriend and gain the trust of the Hindu girl under false pretences. Had his religious identity been immaterial to his intentions, there would have been no need to conceal his Muslim identity, assume a Hindu name, or wear a visible Hindu religious symbol. These deliberate actions demonstrate that the victim was specifically profiled and targeted because she was Hindu. The concealment of religious identity in this case was not merely a personal act of deception but a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling. The accused's actions indicate that he understood his true identity could have prevented the relationship from developing and therefore constructed a false Hindu identity to secure the victim's trust. Such conduct reflects a conscious exploitation of the confidence associated with a shared religious identity and demonstrates that religion was an essential component of the method used to target the victim. By exploiting Hindu religious symbols and identity as tools of deception, the accused displayed a clear disregard for the sanctity of the victim's faith and the trust she placed in those who appeared to belong to her own religious community. The deception also formed part of a sustained process of grooming rather than an isolated act. After establishing contact through the fabricated Hindu identity, the accused gradually gained the victim's confidence before taking her away. The relationship was therefore built upon a false religious identity from its inception, depriving the victim of the ability to make informed decisions based on the accused's true identity. The deliberate and prolonged nature of the deception demonstrates planning and preparation rather than a spontaneous act. Moreover, the concealment of religious identity served a purpose beyond merely initiating contact. It enabled the accused to establish a relationship with the victim under false pretences by presenting himself as a member of the same religious community. The fabricated Hindu identity removed the religious barrier that might otherwise have prevented the relationship from developing and allowed the accused to gain the victim's confidence through deception. The deliberate misuse of a Hindu identity and a sacred Hindu symbol demonstrates that religion was central to the method employed to target the victim. The accused's conduct revealed deliberate planning and the conscious misuse of Hindu religious identity to gain access to the victim. His decision to conceal his Muslim identity, assume a Hindu name, and wear a sacred Hindu symbol demonstrated that these were calculated acts of deception rather than incidental choices. The objective was not merely to establish contact but to gain the confidence of a Hindu girl by exploiting the trust associated with a shared religious identity, making religion central to the commission of the offence. In many such previous cases involving identity fraud of this nature, religious conversion or sexual exploitation often emerges as the ultimate objective, as the initial deception removes the very barrier that would otherwise prevent the relationship from developing. For these reasons, this case has been documented in the Hinduphobia Tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime.