Hindus lured to convert to Christianity under pretext of 'healing' meetings in Surguja, Chhattisgarh
Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, India 
25 January, 2025
Case Summary
In the Namnakala area of Ambikapur, Surguja district, Chhattisgarh, Hindus were targeted for forced Christian conversion by misleading pretexts of 'healing' meetings. According to media reports, a 65-year-old former Deputy Collector, Omega Toppo, a Christian woman, organised the healing meeting on 26 January 2026. During this gathering, she pressured Hindus to convert to Christianity. Based on a report from a Hindu organisation, Gandhinagar police raided the house of retired Deputy Collector Omega Toppo, where 50 to 60 Hindus had attended the healing meeting without permission. In this case, Gandhinagar police registered a named First Information Report against the accused on the basis of a written report from a Hindu organisation worker, Roshan Tiwari. The accused fled the scene after the First Information Report was filed and was arrested on Thursday, 29 January 2026, by Gandhinagar police in Ambikapur before being sent to Central Jail on judicial remand. Confirming this, Surguja Additional Superintendent of Police Amolak Singh Dhillon said that Gandhinagar police investigated the matter further by examining the seized register and witness statements. Reports also confirmed that the accused had held "healing meetings" every Sunday for the past year, during which Hindus were misled into converting to Christianity.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. 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. The other 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. This incident constituted an instance of a hate crime against Hindus, as the retired Deputy Collector Omega Toppo, a Christian by faith, targeted them for forced conversion to Christianity under the guise of healing meetings. The nature of the conversion efforts and their wider impact on the Hindu community indicate targeted action against Hindus as a collective. When individuals focus on converting members of a particular religion, in this case, Hindus, it demonstrates fundamental disregard for the Hindu faith. Conversion, especially when achieved not through personal conviction but misleading pretexts like healing, goes beyond sharing beliefs. It undermines the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community. Here, Omega Toppo specifically targeted Hindus at unauthorised gatherings of 50 to 60 people, showing a lack of respect for Hinduism and its followers. Such actions strip Hindu victims of their faith, marking it as a religiously motivated crime. The act of luring Hindus to convert under the pretext of healing meetings represented deliberate religious manipulation. These gatherings stemmed not from charity but served as coercive methods to pressure conversions. This 'healing' inducement exploited vulnerabilities of the Hindu victims with false promises of healing while concealing an agenda driven by religious animosity. The calculated use of healing as a pretext reflects prejudice against Hinduism. Such tactics constitute religiously motivated crime, eroding victims' religious autonomy through manipulation and coercion. Furthermore, Omega Toppo had held these healing meetings every Sunday for the past year, showing this was not an isolated event but a pattern of targeted Christian conversions of Hindus, intended to alter the area's demographics and rooted in hostility towards Hinduism and the Hindu community. These targeted proselytisation activities arise from inherent hostility towards the victims' faith, as Abrahamic faiths view non-adherents as targets for conversion. This makes it a religiously motivated crime against Hindus. Since this case meets the parameters of a religiously motivated offence against Hindus and their faith, it has been added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the dates of incidents based on when a crime occurs or when the victim's ordeal begins, rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this particular case, media reports stated that the recent conversion attempt occurred on 26 January 2026, while such activities had continued since last year, 2025. Therefore, based on this information, an indicative date of 26 January 2025 is being selected as the date of the incident. This date is being recorded for documentation purposes only.
Victim Details
Total Victim
60
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 60
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 60
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 60
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
female
Sources 
