Hindu girl brainwashed and converted to Islam by Muslim gang linked to Chhangur Peer

Case ID : 9958038 | Location : Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 21 July, 2020

Case ID : 9958038

Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India

21 July, 2020

Hindu girl brainwashed and converted to Islam by Muslim gang linked to Chhangur Peer

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

In Chandigarh, a Hindu girl student was brainwashed to convert to Islam by her Muslim acquaintances. The Muslim accused were members of a grooming and conversion gang in Agra, which was linked to Muslim Peer Chhangur Baba, who was known for orchestrating numerous forcible conversions of Hindus to Islam. According to media reports, the Hindu victim is identified as SB Krishna, originally from Goa. She enrolled at Panjab University in 2020 to pursue an MSc in Data Science. During her time there, she was befriended by several Muslim students from Kashmir. These individuals subjected her to persistent brainwashing, extolling the supposed virtues of performing Namaz, Islamic prayers, and wearing a burqa. Gradually, she became influenced by their manipulative ideas. Subsequently, the Muslim students took Krishna to Kashmir, where she stayed with them for several days. Throughout this period, her parents remained unaware of her whereabouts. The family lodged a missing person’s report in Delhi regarding their daughter’s disappearance. After many days, she returned to Delhi alone, as she did not like the valley. Her family then brought her back to Goa and confiscated her mobile phone, causing her to lose contact with her friends and associates from the conversion gang. However, after six months, she escaped again and travelled to Kolkata, where she converted to Islam and changed her name to Ayesha. Following this, her involvement with the group then deepened in Kolkata, where she began fundraising for conversion activities and used these funds in support of the conversion gang and their nefarious goals. Police investigations revealed that the gang used social networks, dark web platforms, and dating applications to lure Hindu women. Members initially befriended the women, ensnared them romantically, and then brainwashed them into converting to Islam. The group maintained links with banned terror organisations such as PFI, SIMI, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and they also received foreign funding to facilitate conversions. Uttar Pradesh DGP Rajeev Krishna explained that the gang had managed to convert hundreds of Hindu women across different states. In response to the illegal conversion activities by the Muslim gang, the Yogi Adityanath administration initiated a special drive named “Mission Asmita” against forced conversions. As part of this, seven special teams from Agra police conducted raids in Kolkata, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Uttarakhand, arresting ten accused, including a woman. The case was registered under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021. It is also pertinent to note that the Muslim gang was part of a larger religious conversion racket orchestrated by a Muslim Peer known as Chhangur Baba. The Uttar Pradesh ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) had recently dismantled this organised network, uncovering its systematic operation aimed at targeting and converting Hindu individuals, particularly women and minors, to Islam. According to the investigation, Chhangur Baba provided financial incentives to Muslim men to lure Hindu women, often under false identities by posing as Hindus, and then pressure them into conversion. Once converted, these women were married off through Nikah ceremonies arranged by Chhangur Baba himself. Authorities also discovered that Chhangur Baba had published a book titled Shijra-e-Tayyaba, intended as a manual to propagate Islam. The ATS investigation revealed that his network operated on a structured incentive model: Rs15–16 lakh was paid for converting Brahmin, Sikh, or Kshatriya women; Rs10–12 lakh for OBC women; and Rs8–10 lakh for those from other castes. He, along with his wife, was arrested on 5th July 2025. The ATS confirmed that the gang had received nearly Rs100 crore in foreign funds to facilitate these illegal conversions across India. Members of his own family were reportedly involved in the operation. The Hinduphobia Tracker had previously documented nine such cases where Chhangur Baba was involved. He used coercion to convert Hindu individuals to Islam. In the first case, Chhangur encouraged a Muslim man named Meraj to lure a Hindu woman named Aarti by posing as a Hindu. Afterwards, Chhangur, along with Meraj, forcibly converted her to Islam and conducted her Nikah according to Islamic customs. Another case involved a Hindu man named Harjeet, who was forcibly converted to Islam by Chhangur. The accused had offered Harjeet incentives and subjected him to harassment and had filed false cases against him in an attempt to persuade him to convert to Islam. Similarly, in another case, in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Sanchit and his wife were lured to convert to Islam with incentives by the Muslim Peer Chhangur. Both victims were also subjected to death threats and were harassed with false cases for refusing to convert. Another such instance was reported in Faridabad, Haryana, where a minor Hindu girl was brainwashed and forcibly converted to Islam by her Muslim neighbours who were part of a Muslim gang run by the Muslim peer Chhangur. After her conversion, her Hindu identity was erased; she was given a Muslim name, compelled to wear a burqa, forced to perform Islamic rituals, and fed meat against her beliefs. She was horrifically exploited sexually, blackmailed using obscene videos, and pushed into prostitution. In another such case of a Hindu woman from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man. The accused pretended to be Hindu and had manipulated and brainwashed her into converting to Islam. The victim had been missing since 2019. The accused was also linked to the Islamic cleric Peer Chhangur. In another such case, a Hindu woman named Rashmi (name changed) from Karnataka was trafficked to Saudi Arabia and subjected to years of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse as part of a systematic religious conversion racket operated under the influence of Islamic Peer Jalaluddin alias Chhangur Baba. Under false pretences of marriage and employment, the woman was entrapped, manipulated, and eventually transported across international borders. In another such case, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was lured into a romantic relationship and subsequently married by a Muslim man named Tabish Asgar. The accused had posed as a Hindu youth while deceiving the woman into a relationship and married her as per Hindu rituals. After marriage, the accused exerted pressure on the victim to renounce Hinduism and adopt Islam, but was not successful. He then took her to Muslim Peer Chhangur alias Jalaluddin, who is known for converting several Hindus to Islam by use of force, deception, and coercion. There, she was also coerced and enticed with incentives to adopt Islam. In another case, in Ranipokhari, Uttarakhand, a young Hindu woman became the target of an organised Muslim conversion gang who attempted to forcibly convert her to Islam through online grooming, emotional pressure, and inducements. This conversion gang was connected to Chhangur Peer. In a similar case, in Agra's Sadar Bazar, two Hindu women were targeted and brainwashed by a Muslim conversion gang. Members of this gang were involved in forcibly converting several Hindus to Islam and had connections to banned Islamist terror groups such as SIMI, PFI, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They were also associated with Muslim Peer Chhangur Baba.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected is- Pattern of targeting Hindus. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case qualifies as a hate crime against Hindus due to the systematic, malicious, and religiously prejudiced nature of the conversion campaign. While it is acknowledged that the victim, SB Krishna, is an adult and has the right to choose or change her religion, this case stands apart because the conversion was not a result of free will or informed choice. Instead, it followed a calculated and gradual process of grooming, manipulation, and indoctrination carried out by members of an organised conversion racket linked to Muslim cleric Peer Chhangur Baba. The victim was emotionally manipulated through peer influence and subtly coerced into abandoning her Hindu identity and adopting Islamic practices. Peer Chhangur Baba’s network operated with a clear modus operandi: targeting Hindu individuals, especially women and minors, for conversion using deception, psychological conditioning, and inducement. His organisation offered financial incentives for conversions, used false identities, employed digital platforms to groom victims, and was linked to banned terrorist organisations such as PFI, SIMI, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The racket received significant foreign funding, reportedly around ₹100 crore, to facilitate these activities. The operation was not religious propagation in good faith but an ideologically driven campaign to undermine the Hindu community. Religious brainwashing and grooming of this nature are not merely subtle—they are predatory. The victim’s trust and emotional vulnerabilities were deliberately exploited to create disaffection toward her faith and induce allegiance to a contrasting one. Such manipulation becomes more insidious when carried out through fiduciary or emotionally close relationships. The conversion was not incidental; it was the direct outcome of religious animosity expressed through a structured campaign. The targeting of Hindus, particularly women, with the intent to erase their identity and forcibly integrate them into another religious framework makes this not just a violation of personal liberty but a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime. The Chhangur Baba case is not merely an individual crime but a manifestation of a larger ideological campaign aimed at the gradual Islamisation of India. This agenda seeks to erode Hindu identity and alter the country's demographic and cultural fabric. Muslim extremists often harbour deep-seated animosity towards Hindus and view India as a Hindu collectivity that must be dismantled or subdued. The ideological roots of this mindset go back to the very basis of the Partition of India, which was that the Muslims believed that Islam was a nation unto itself, which could not survive with a Hindu collectivity like India. Historically, Islamic conquests have not always relied solely on military force; they have also operated through psychological coercion, forced conversions, and cultural erasure. This case reflects the continuation of that same mindset in modern forms. Since this case meets the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it is being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date and month when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest indication is that her brainwashing started in the year 2020. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, and the media reported this case on 22nd July 2025, we have used an indicative date of 22nd July 2020 as the date of the incident.