Hindus lured with inducements and manipulated to convert to Christianity in Rajasthan
Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India 
17 December, 2025
Case Summary
In Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district, Hindus were targeted for religious conversion by a German Christian couple and other Christians. The accused operated an illegal church in a house and lured Hindus with inducements while manipulating them to convert to Christianity. According to reports, the illegal church operated in a rented house where people were lured into adopting Christianity through monetary incentives. On the night of 18th December 2025, police arrested six Christian perpetrators on charges of forced religious conversion. The incident took place near the Sri Gurunanak Darbar Gurdwara in Lakkar Mandi, Ward No. 22, Srikaranpur town. Police identified the perpetrators as Swan Boz Bet Jaller and his wife, Sandra, from Germany, Santosh Varghese from Karnataka, Mathew from Kerala, Baljinder Singh Khosa, and Rajesh Kamboj alias Poppy. The accused lured Hindus along with a few Sikhs for Christian conversions, misled them regarding their faith, and offered money and several other inducements to convert to Christianity. Following this, a large number of people from Hindu and Sikh organisations gathered outside the church and in front of the police station and demanded strict action against the Christian accused. Circle Officer Pushpendra Singh tried to reason with the crowd. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Hindu organisation, filed a complaint at the police station regarding this matter. Reports confirmed that the house where the church operated belonged to the family of a man named Jogendra Singh Petiwale, who rented it out. Neighbours remained unaware of the conversion activities inside. Following a tip-off, a team from the Criminal Investigation Department's intelligence wing arrived at the scene, arrested all the accused, and took them to the police station.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. The other subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. 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 constituted a clear instance of anti-Hindu hate crime, as Hindus faced targeted religious conversion efforts by a German Christian couple and other Christians operating an illegal church in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. The accused lured Hindus with inducements such as money and other incentives to abandon their faith and convert to Christianity. These offerings did not represent acts of kindness but served as coercive tools to arm-twist vulnerable Hindu victims into submission, exploiting their circumstances to erode their religious identity. Such instances are seen in many cases where members of Christian missionary groups target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips Hindus of their agency and dignity and enforces Christianity upon them. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather are premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own faith, and convert to Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindus, making it a religiously motivated crime. Conversions achieved not through genuine conviction but through manipulation and coercion violate the victims' sacred Hindu beliefs, reflecting deep-seated animosity directed at their Hindu identity and marking it as an instance of religiously motivated crime. The accused manipulated and misled Hindu attendees about their own faith, employing deceptive tactics to coerce conversions and exposing profound religious animosity towards Hindus. This manipulation constituted a hate crime by deliberately undermining victims' religious convictions through calculated deceit, stripping them of religious autonomy and targeting their Hindu identity for erasure, making it a religiously motivated crime. Predatory proselytisation of this nature stems from doctrinal hostility inherent in Abrahamic faiths, which dehumanises non-adherents until they convert, treating Hindus as targets for conquest. This calculated aggression against Hindu identity and Hinduism solidifies the case as one driven by prejudice. Consequently, this incident is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
