Hindu girls deceived by Muslim man using fake Hindu identity; obscene photos and videos of multiple Hindu girls found on his phone
Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, India 
4 May, 2025
Case Summary
In Damoh, Israeil Mohammad Khan from Gunaur village in Panna district used the false identity of ‘Shiva Sharma’ on social media to befriend Hindu girls and entrap them in exploitative relationships. The case mirrors similar incidents reported in Bhopal and Indore, highlighting a disturbing pattern of deliberately targeting Hindu women. The accused brought one such girl to Damoh under the false promise of marriage and checked into Everest Lodge. His real identity was uncovered when he attempted to photocopy an Aadhaar card at a local cyber café. While making an online payment of ₹15, the name 'Israeil Mohammad' appeared, contradicting the forged ID that read ‘Shiva Sharma’. Suspicious, the café owner alerted members of a Hindu organisation, who then brought the accused to the police station. Police initially registered a case for using forged documents. However, the situation escalated when investigators discovered explicit images of multiple young women on the accused's mobile phone. Chat histories indicated sexually exploitative relationships with at least three women and ongoing conversations with over a dozen others. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) was notified, and its interrogation confirmed a broader pattern of targeting Hindu girls under a false identity for coercive and manipulative purposes. The ATS also began tracking the accused’s movements, including regular visits to a mosque in Gunaur, where he reportedly met other individuals potentially connected to this pattern of criminal activity. Further investigation revealed that Israeil gathered contact information of Hindu school and college girls by accessing documents left at a photocopy shop run by a Muslim associate in Damoh. Using this data, he reached out to the girls on social media, masquerading as a Hindu man, and subsequently entrapped them, coercing them into sharing private photos and videos. CSP Abhishek Tiwari confirmed that while no formal complaints have yet been filed by any of the affected girls, police and ATS were continuing their inquiry from the angle of grooming and forced conversion.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker un the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The sub-category selected here is - Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary sub-categories being - Name changed and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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 accused, Israeil Mohammad Khan, intentionally concealed his Muslim identity and posed as a Hindu man named "Shiva Sharma" with the specific aim of deceiving Hindu girls. His consistent use of a fake Hindu identity on social media to befriend and lure only Hindu girls, combined with the discovery of their names and contact details collected from a local shop, establishes a pattern of targeting based on religion. This was not an isolated incident but part of a broader and deliberate strategy to approach women of a specific faith. The method used—identity deception, manipulation through emotional or sexual exploitation, and association with networks (evidenced by mosque visits and possibly coordinated data collection)—indicates that this is not simply a personal crime. Instead, it reflects a calculated pattern directed at girls from a specific religious community. Even in the absence of a formal complaint from the victims so far, the available evidence (forged identity, explicit content, and data collection practices) fits within the definition of hate crime. Notably, when a perpetrator specifically targets women/girls of a particular faith, the crime transcends mere random violence; it becomes an act deeply rooted in religious intolerance. Such targeting is not only an attack on the individual but also a symbolic assault on the entire community that the victim represents. The perpetrator’s actions may be driven by a desire to assert religious superiority, to humiliate the community, or to forcefully impose their own beliefs on others. This is particularly evident when the crime involves elements like forced conversion, physical or sexual violence, or psychological manipulation intended to strip the victim of her religious identity. This type of targeted violence is not just an individual crime but a hate crime with broader social and religious implications. It stems from the perpetrator's deep animosity towards the victim's faith. This is why this case has been included in the tracker. Here, it is also important to mention that reports suggest that the victims included school girls, which means that they were minors. This means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since the underlying offence in this case was against children of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of indoctrination, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
