Multiple Hindu women targeted for conversion by Muslim man posing as Hindu, used Hindu deity tattoos to lure victim
Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India 
24 September, 2026
Case Summary
In Govardhan, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu women were targeted by a Muslim man named Salman. He posed as Hindu by displaying tattoos of a Hindu deity and a peacock feather on his hand to gain their trust and lure them into relationships for religious conversion to Islam. The 40-year-old resident of Mukhrai village worked with his brother, Mustaq Khan alias Goli, and three associates, Shakir, Jalwa, and Junoon. During police questioning, Salman disclosed that he and Mustaq had joined a gym in a neighbouring village to establish contact with a Hindu woman. Salman befriended the woman's brother to gain access to her family and subsequently developed a relationship with her. He described taking the woman away with the assistance of his brother and associates for the purpose of converting her to Islam and arranging Nikah. He further stated that the group primarily befriended Hindu men to establish connections with Hindu women. Salman's disclosures also connected him to the previously documented case by Hinduphobia Tracker involving his brother Mustaq Khan. On 18th September 2026, Mustaq took a Hindu woman from a village under the Radhakund police outpost. Her father subsequently filed a complaint accusing him of luring his daughter away, converting her to Islam and marrying her through Nikah. According to a relative of the woman's family, Mustaq regularly visited a local Hanuman temple and distributed prasad, using these visits to establish contact with her. The woman was recovered by police on 24th September 2026, while the search for Mustaq continued. Salman further disclosed that he was already married and had previously drawn another Hindu woman into a relationship. His use of Hindu religious tattoos was intended to make him appear familiar and trustworthy to Hindu women, facilitating the relationships through which he and his associates sought religious conversion. Separately, a Radhakund resident named Sagar had lodged an FIR on 1st August 2026 concerning the theft of his motorcycle from outside his residence at approximately 10:30 PM on 8th May 2026. During the investigation, Govardhan Police arrested Salman near the Padal railway underpass in the Radhakund outpost area. Police recovered the stolen motorcycle, an illegal country-made pistol and two live cartridges from his possession. Their activities came to light following Salman's arrest by Mathura Police on 25th September 2026 and his subsequent interrogation. Salman told police that he carried the firearm for personal security and stole motorcycles to finance his lifestyle. Police subsequently registered a separate case against him under the Arms Act in connection with the recovered weapon and ammunition.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected for this case is: Crime against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected for this case is: Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary categories selected are: Wears symbols of Hinduism; Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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. The religious dimension of this case was central to the entire pattern of targeting. Salman did not merely enter relationships with Hindu women; he deliberately created a false impression of shared religious identity by displaying Hindu religious symbols, including tattoos of a Hindu deity and a peacock feather. He used these symbols to make Hindu women and their families see him as familiar and trustworthy. The deception was therefore specifically built around their Hindu identity and religious sensibilities. The manner in which Salman and his associates sought out victims further demonstrates that Hindu women were being targeted because they were Hindu. Salman stated that he and his brother joined a gym to establish contact with a Hindu woman and that they often befriended Hindu men first in order to gain access to Hindu women. This was a calculated method of entering Hindu families and building trust from within. The use of Hindu religious symbols to support this deception made the religious element even more explicit: the symbols of the victim’s faith were appropriated as tools to gain access to her. The ultimate objective of these relationships was also religious in nature. Salman’s disclosure that women were taken away for conversion to Islam and Nikah makes clear that the relationships were being used as a means to alter the victims’ religious identity. This was not simply romantic deception for personal gratification. The deception created access, the relationships created vulnerability, and that vulnerability was then used to pursue religious conversion. The entire process therefore centred on replacing the Hindu identity of the women with another religious identity. The involvement of multiple associates and the parallel conduct involving Salman’s brother further strengthens the pattern. Mustaq similarly established contact with a Hindu woman through repeated visits to a Hanuman temple and distribution of prasad before taking her away, after which her family complained of conversion and Nikah. The recurring use of Hindu religious spaces, symbols and practices to gain the trust of Hindu women shows that religious identity was not incidental to these relationships but formed a deliberate part of the method employed. The conduct therefore reflects a targeted effort in which Hindu identity itself became the point of exploitation. Hindu symbols were used as camouflage, Hindu families were deliberately approached, and relationships were pursued with the stated objective of conversion and Nikah. The deception, grooming, isolation and conversion attempts were interconnected rather than separate acts. Such acts are carried out by Muslim perpetrators due to indoctrination by Islamic theology, which advocates that all non-Muslims (referred to as kafirs) are inferior and subject to subjugation unless they convert to Islam or live under Islamic rule (dhimmitude). These ideas are not mere abstractions; they manifest in actions where non-Muslims, especially Hindus in India, are seen as targets for religious domination, coercion, or humiliation. This theological framework fosters an "us versus them" mindset, in which any assertion of Hindu identity or religious freedom is seen not only as undesirable but as a threat to Islamic supremacy. As a result, perpetrators who are shaped by such teachings feel justified, even morally obligated, to harass, suppress, or violently attack Hindus, particularly when Hindus assert their religious rights or resist conversion. As a result, Muslim perpetrators invoke such doctrines to justify coercive attempts to convert non-Muslims, particularly Hindus, portraying conversion as a means of abandoning Kufr (a state of disbelief in Islam or disbelief in Islam) and attaining salvation. Such acts, therefore, are not isolated but driven by a broader ideological hostility towards Hindus as non-believers and reflect an attempt to impose religious dominance. Since this case was also not a random isolated incident of grooming of a minor but a premeditated attack motivated by bias and hatred against the Hindu community, which is a defining feature of hate crimes, this has been added to the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on the date on which they occurred or when the victim’s ordeal began, rather than when they were subsequently reported or published. In this case, the exact date on which Salman began targeting Hindu women through religious deception could not be established. Therefore, 25th September 2026 has been recorded as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only. This date corresponds to the date when the incident was reported in the media.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
