Several Hindu girls selectively targeted and exploited by Muslim man posing as Hindu; accused admits of visiting temple to befriend Hindu girls
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
8 July, 2025
Case Summary
In Pardeshipura, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, several Hindu women were selectively targeted and sexually exploited by a Muslim man who posed as a Hindu to trap them. According to media reports, the accused was identified as Mohammad Zeeshan, who had masqueraded as a Hindu man named Aniket Tomar. The incident came to light at the Moti Baba temple, located in the Pardeshipura area. Zeeshan, posing as Aniket, attempted to catcall and befriend Hindu girls at the temple. Members of the Hindu Jagran Manch confronted the accused. He initially insisted that he was Aniket; however, upon being searched, an Aadhaar card was found in his pocket. His name on the Aadhar Card was Mohammad Zeeshan, son of Karim Khan, resident of Srinagar Kakad. Subsequently, the organisation's members discovered obscene photographs and videos of several Hindu girls on his phone. Following this, the Hindu activists interrogated Zeeshan. He stated that he worked at the Taskus call centre and was in contact with many girls there. He admitted that he visited the temple to befriend Hindu girls and establish contact with them by luring them. Following these events, the police were informed, and, on behalf of one of the victims at the temple, a case was registered against the accused. Members of the Hindu organisation thrashed Zeeshan and handed him over to the police. The police arrested him and began his interrogation. They stated that further investigation would be conducted in this matter.
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. Another subcategory selected in this case is - Brainwashed and/or groomed. Within this tertiary category selected is- 'Rape and 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. In this case, several Hindu women were deceived and sexually exploited by a Muslim man posing as a Hindu. His phone revealed obscene pictures, videos and chats with several Hindu women. He also admitted to selectively targeting Hindu women by deception and luring. All this demonstrates that this incident is a clear example of a hate crime targeting Hindu women based on their religious identity. This incident goes beyond individual criminality and enters the realm of hate crime due to the calculated use of religious deception, targeted exploitation, and subsequent threats, all of which specifically preyed upon the faith of the Hindu victims and their community background. In this case, the religious motive of the crime is evident from the perpetrator’s deliberate concealment of his Muslim identity to deceive, befriend and exploit Hindu women. This act itself demonstrates clear bias and malicious intent towards the victims' religion. By hiding his own religious identity, the Muslim perpetrator aimed to exploit Hindu women and target them under false pretences, indicating a premeditated intent to manipulate them based on their religious identity. In such instances, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and ensnare Hindus is not only an act of personal betrayal but an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its adherents. Once the trust of the Hindu victims was established under false pretences, the Muslim perpetrator, Zeeshan, lured and sexually exploited them. He went further by taking their obscene photographs and videos. Furthermore, the accused openly confessed to visiting the temple with the sole intention of targeting Hindu women. This behaviour clearly demonstrates that his actions were not isolated acts, but rather a malicious strategy to single out and exploit Hindu women. Such actions are driven by religious hostility towards the Hindu community, particularly its women. The evidence found on the Muslim perpetrator’s phone revealed that he had targeted several Hindu women, not just one. This indicates a disturbing pattern of using deceit as a tool to target and exploit women based on their faith. Targeting women belonging to a specific religion to exploit them is an act rooted in deep religious animosity and contempt for that community, in this case, the Hindu community. It stands as a clear example of a crime motivated by religious hatred. Given that this case meets the criteria for a religiously motivated crime, it has been added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports have not specified the total number of victims. Therefore, for the purpose of documentation, we have recorded the victim count as ‘1’, referring to the girl whose complaint led to the apprehension of the accused, Zeeshan.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
