Young women lured into physical relationship with promises of marriage by Muslim man posing as Hindu, blackmailed with obscene pictures

Case ID : 90a0be6 | Location : Nagapur, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 30 March, 2025

Case ID : 90a0be6

Nagapur, Maharashtra, India

30 March, 2025

Young women lured into physical relationship with promises of marriage by Muslim man posing as Hindu, blackmailed with obscene pictures

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Pattern of targeting Hindu women

Name Changed

Case Summary

In Nagpur, Maharashtra, a 24-year-old woman helped a 19-year-old minor girl file a police complaint against her husband, Abdul Sharique Qureshi, who used a Hindu alias to trap young women, exploited them physically on the pretext of marrying them and then blackmailed them with their obscene videos and pictures. Abdul Sharique Qureshi, who operated a paan shop in Nagpur, had adopted the alias "Sahil" to deceive the 19-year-old girl, concealing his marital status and fabricating promises of marriage. His wife, enduring prolonged emotional and sexual abuse, including demands for what she described as "pornographic" sexual acts, decided to intervene. She hacked into his WhatsApp and found that Qureshi had been sexually exploiting and blackmailing many women. Despite her attempts to contact all the victims, only the 19-year-old girl was willing to come forward and report the crimes. It was revealed that Qureshi had coerced the girl into a physical relationship, secretly recording compromising videos which he then used to blackmail her for money and further sexual favours. He also forced her to sell a gold ring and threatened to circulate nude photos. The victim detailed encounters in hotels and an initial meeting at a religious 'mahaprasad' program. The subsequent police investigation led to Qureshi's arrest, and a rape case was registered against him. The court granted initial custody remand, with further extensions anticipated. When writing this report, the case was under the supervision of senior police officials.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been included in the tracker under the primary category of- Crimes against women in relationship and other sexual crimes. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu, and the tertiary categories relevant here are- Name changed and Pattern of targeting Hindu woman. 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 malafide 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 motive of the crime is evident from the fact that the Muslim perpetrator hid his true identity to trap the Hindu victim. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs, and this is why this case has been added here. Disclaimer: Details of the case reveal that the Muslim perpetrator targeted multiple women under false pretenses; however, since only one woman came forward and reported the crime, we have chosen to mark the victim count as one.