Hindu women drugged, blackmailed, and filmed in Indore; Muslim man posed as Hindu to trap over 30 victims
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
30 June, 2025
Case Summary
In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a Muslim man named Sheikh Arbaz was arrested for posing as a Hindu under the false identity of “Ramesh Jaiswal” to lure, drug, and sexually exploit Hindu women. He also took obscene photographs and videos of the victims, with nearly 30 to 40 such cases found on his phone. Members of a Hindu organisation apprehended Arbaz with a Hindu woman from Bhopal at an apartment in Mahalakshmi Nagar. Both worked at the same telemarketing company. Arbaz had introduced himself to the woman as Ramesh Jaiswal and had entered into a relationship with her under this false identity. When the activists confronted him, he initially claimed to be Ramesh, but upon checking his identification documents, it was revealed that he was actually Sheikh Arbaz, a Muslim. Further investigation of Arbaz’s phone and laptop by the Hindu organisation members revealed obscene chats, photos, and videos involving 30 to 40 Hindu women. Evidence suggested that he had drugged and exploited these women while concealing his religious identity. Additionally, material on his phone indicated drug abuse. The police were promptly informed, and a case was registered. Arbaz was arrested and taken into custody. During interrogation, he reportedly confessed to committing these acts under the direction of Congress leader Anwar Qadri, reporting that Qadri had financed his activities with the intent of targeting Hindu women. This is not the first time Anwar Qadri’s name has surfaced in such cases. In June 2025, two Muslim youths, Altaf and Sahil, were arrested for luring Hindu women into relationships, forcing them into conversion and marriage, and ultimately trafficking them for sex work. That incident was also reported by Hinduphobia Tracker.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is- Name Changed. 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 other subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or groomed. The tertiary category selected is- 'Rape or sexual assault/ harassment' and 'Pattern of targeting Hindu women'. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. This incident constitutes a hate crime, as it clearly involved religiously motivated targeting, deception, and abuse. The Muslim perpetrator, Arbaz, deliberately concealed his Muslim identity to initiate and develop a relationship with a Hindu woman. This act alone demonstrates bias and malicious intent towards the victim’s religion. By hiding his true identity, he betrayed the trust of the Hindu woman and targeted her under false pretences, showing a calculated intent to manipulate her based on her faith. Such cases, where a Muslim individual adopts a false Hindu identity to manipulate and entrap a Hindu woman, go beyond personal betrayal. They represent a profound disrespect for Hinduism and its customs, reflecting deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. The Muslim perpetrator knew that the woman, being Hindu, would likely refuse his advances had she known his real identity. Therefore, he posed as a Hindu and targeted the woman, making this a clear act of religious deceit. Furthermore, the Muslim perpetrator had sexually exploited the Hindu woman by using his fabricated identity, subsequently taking obscene photographs of her. This behaviour glaringly demonstrates that the perpetrator religiously profiled and targeted the woman specifically because of her religious background, driven by deep-seated animosity. Furthermore, the Muslim perpetrator did not target just one Hindu woman, but between 30 and 40 Hindu women, revealing a pattern of faith-based targeting. These women were religiously profiled, sexually exploited, and blackmailed with their obscene chats, photos and videos by the Muslim perpetrator. This clearly shows an intent to single out Hindu women for exploitation. Such actions are carried out by Muslim perpetrators due to the teachings of the Islamic theology, which views non-Muslim women, in this case, Hindu women, as sex objects and glorifies their exploitation as a noble deed. All such acts are born out of deep-rooted animosity and hatred for the Hindu community. The involvement of a Muslim councillor, Anwar Qadri, further aggravates the situation. His role in such cases is not new; in June 2025, he paid two Muslim youth to target Hindu women for conversion and exploitation. This reveals a premeditated effort to systematically target Hindu women, motivated by hatred and contempt for the Hindu community. When a political figure incentivises the targeting and sexual exploitation of girls from another religion, it ceases to be a matter of individual criminality and becomes a systemic, organised campaign against a religious community. Given that this case meets multiple criteria for a religiously motivated crime, it has been added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The case mentions that between 30 to 40 Hindu women were targeted by the accused, but does not provide an exact number. For documentation purposes, we have recorded the maximum count of 40 victims in the database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the exploitation of the women began. However, it is mentioned that the accused was arrested on 2nd July 2025. Therefore, for documentation purposes, this date has been recorded as the incident date.
Victim Details
Total Victim
40
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 40
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 40
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 40
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
