The nation is reeling from a deadly terror attack that has left at least 26 people dead. The attackers, all Muslims, targeted Hindu tourists visiting Pahalgam, a destination often referred to as “Mini Switzerland” of India for its scenic beauty. According to eyewitness accounts, the victims were asked their religion, made to recite the Kalma, and even made to remove their pants to confirm circumcision. Those who identified as Hindus were shot dead at point-blank range, while Muslims were spared.
Amid these religiously motivated attacks, a shocking case has emerged from Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, following a notorious pattern that seems to have been recreated.
Another Ajmer Sex Scandal?
The infamous 1992 Ajmer case, which involved the sexual exploitation and blackmailing of over 250 Hindu girls, recently resurfaced in Rajasthan’s Bijaynagar, falling in Beawar district, where Hindu teens in classes 8, 9, and 10 were targeted. Now, a similar pattern has come to light in Bhopal. Here, college-going girls have been trapped by Islamist gangs who have raped, abused, and sexually exploited them, forcing them to follow Islamic practices and more.
The case came to light after one victim, despite being blackmailed for months, reached out to the police. The pattern remains the same: a girl is trapped, raped, and recorded, then blackmailed to bring her friends, one after another. The chain continues, with more accused men joining. The gang grows bigger and more vicious, with no end in sight except conversion to Islam to stop the abuse.
Three men, Ali Khan, Sahil Khan, and Farhan Khan, have been accused of sexually assaulting three young women at different locations in the city. Ali Khan molested her at a hotel in Ashoka Garden, Sahil Khan raped her in Jahangirabad, and Farhan Khan committed the crime at a hotel and rooms in Bagsewania.
The police have registered three separate cases against each and seized their mobile phones, which contain the numbers of other young women. Two accused, Farhan Khan and Sahil Khan, have been arrested and sent to jail. The third, Ali Khan, is absconding. However, there are more caused named in this case.
The Commissioner confirmed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising four officers has been formed to probe the case further. Preliminary findings suggest there may be many more victims, as more survivors are coming forward during counselling sessions.
“Forced me to convert and wear a burqa”: Three victims’ same story
Organiser has accessed all three FIRs lodged in the case. Below are the details from each FIR:
First FIR (Number: 002/2025) was registered at Bagsewaniya Police Station on April 17 by 23-year-old Seema (name changed). In her complaint, she informed the police that she resides in the Ashoka Garden area and had dropped out of her engineering degree after completing three years. When she was in the first year of her BTech, she came in contact with one Farhan through a mutual friend, also Hindu.
One day in 2022, Seema, along with her friend, Farhan, and another person, went to the house of one Hamid Bhaiya, who lived in the Jahangirabad area near Aam Wali Masjid. After reaching there, they all had food. Later, Farhan asked Seema to come with him. She agreed, and they walked to a room. Inside the room, Farhan grabbed her and tried to force himself on her. Despite her resistance, he went ahead and had sex with her that day. After this, Farhan took the contact numbers of her grandparents from her phone.
Notably, Seema has been an orphan since early childhood — her parents had committed suicide. Since then, she and her younger sister were raised by their grandparents.
Farhan warned Seema that if she dared to tell anyone about the incident, he would leak her pictures and videos. Later, Farhan claimed that he loved her and would marry her. But when Seema asked him to marry her, he said she would first have to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. When she refused, he began forcing her to convert and even forced-fed her meat and beef, despite her being a vegetarian.
She stopped talking to him, but Farhan started defaming her in college. He portrayed her as a woman of loose character who talked to multiple men. He even called her grandmother and threatened her, saying that if Seema didn’t speak to him, he would reveal everything to everyone.
In September 2024, Farhan called Seema to the room of one Abrar, where he raped her again.
During this time, Seema noticed that her younger sister Sapna (name changed) lived in constant fear and became visibly petrified whenever she saw Farhan. One day, Seema asked her what had happened.
Sapna confided that Farhan had also raped her. She revealed that in July 2024, Ali called her to Abrar’s room in the Ashoka Garden area, and Saad Bhai escorted her there. In the room were Abrar, Nabeel, Saad, Farhan, and Ali. After some time, Saad and Farhan made her take a drag of ganja (marijuana). Later, Farhan raped her and recorded the assault. He then threatened to make the video clips viral.
Seema advised Sapna to stay away from the gang. However, nothing changed. The accused continued threatening them. Fearing the gang, both Sapna and Seema dropped out of their studies and never dared to approach the police for help — until now.
Based on a complaint by 21-year-old Sapna, an FIR (Number: 003/2025) was registered at Bagsewaniya Police Station on April 17.
In her complaint, she additionally informed the police that she used to call Farhan “Farhan Bhaiya” and through him, she came in contact with Ali. One day, Ali took her for a ride, and it was too late to return, so he asked her to stay at his place. There, he tried touching her inappropriately. When she objected, he restrained her and warned her not to shout, threatening that everyone would find out. Later, he forced her into physical relations, recorded the act, and told her he loved her and that she should never leave him.
One day, Ali shared the video with Farhan, who then began blackmailing her and forcing her to sleep with him. She was coerced into relationships with Saad, Abrar, and others. After consuming ganja, Farhan raped her. Later, he bragged to others that Sapna was pursuing him and slandered her as a woman of loose character.
As per Sapna’s complaint, the accused — Farhan, Ali, Abrar, Nabeel, and Saad — have been booked under BNS Sections 64, 61(2), and 115(2). Whereas, based on Seema’s complaint, Farhan has been booked under BNS Sections 64, 64(2)(m), and Sections 3 and 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.
Third FIR (Number: 254/2025) was registered at Bagsewaniya Police Station on April 12, 2025, after an 18-year-old Sanjana (name changed), a native of Saket Nagar, came forward to file a complaint.
Back in 2022, while she was still a minor and studying in Class 11 at Hema Higher Secondary School, her elder sister Kalpana (name changed) was pursuing an engineering course. Sanjana used to visit her sister’s college frequently, where she met Farhan. Farhan told her that he liked her and that she should talk to him. Although she sensed something was not right, she was too young to understand. Eventually, she began talking to him. He used to visit her house, take her on bike rides, and win her trust.
In April 2023, Farhan called Sanjana for a ride. She agreed, but instead of a regular outing, he took her to a room in the Ashoka Garden area. There, he began undressing her. When she questioned his intentions, he slapped her and said, “Do as asked.” That day, he forced himself on her and made physical relations despite her crying and resistance. He also threatened to leak the video if she refused to cooperate.
Once in 2023, when Sanjana’s parents were not at home, Farhan again came to her house and raped her. He used to threaten her, saying he would send her photos to her father and have them all killed. Farhan also showed her obscene pictures of other women on his phone and said he would do the same to her if she didn’t give in to his demands.
He repeatedly told her he would marry her only if she converted to Islam and wore a burqa.
For the past seven months, Sanjana has been living in Indore for her higher education. On April 8, Farhan called her, claiming he wanted to apologise and asked for her address. That same night, Farhan reached her residence in Indore and started knocking on her door. She didn’t open the door for over half an hour. When she finally did, she kept one of her friends on call for safety. However, Farhan noticed this, brandished a knife, and asked her to disconnect the call. He then put her phone on flight mode.
Sometime later, Sanjana’s friend called again. Over the call, Sanjana screamed that Farhan was forcibly doing things to her. He then started recording nude videos of her. When she tried to snatch the phone, she failed. Despite her crying, Farhan continued filming her and later said, “Now we have done everything. Now you just have to become a Muslim to get married to me.”
Sanjana then called her friend, who rushed to the spot with her brother and brought her back to Bhopal. She later filed a formal complaint.
Based on her complaint, Farhan has been booked under BNS Sections 137(2), 64, 64(2)(m), 115(2), 351(3) along with Sections 5L and 6 of the POCSO Act, and Sections 3 and 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.
What happened in Beawar, Bijaynagar?
The case follows a similar pattern to those in Beawar and Ajmer. This correspondent recently visited Bijaynagar, where minor girls were trapped by Islamists, and spoke with their parents, whose accounts closely resemble the current case. She interviewed the families of four girls, and this is what they shared:
Victim 1: Vivek (name changed), the brother of two minor sisters aged 13 and 14, spoke with Organiser. Both sisters, studying in the same school and class, were ensnared by the gang. Vivek discovered the issue on February 15 when he noticed money missing from their family’s small shop. That day, he caught one sister using an unfamiliar phone, suspicious since the family only owned their mother’s device. When confronted, she admitted to speaking with Lukman Ali. When Vivek insisted she answer a call on speaker, Lukman hurled abusive language, demanding the girl meet him near a graveyard. Gaining her trust, Vivek learned she had been followed by Lukman to and from school, where he passed notes with his number for weeks and urged her to meet at cafés. After initially ignoring him, she began talking to him, believing his declarations of love. Lukman took her on daily bike rides to places like Chill Out Café in Mill Square and Pizza Hut in Gurukripa Tower, showering her with flattery. Vivek’s sister used a compact Chinese phone with a SIM registered to the accused, identical to one found with his younger sister, who was also in contact with another Muslim boy. Vivek alerted another family in their locality whose daughter was similarly involved.
Victim 2: Suresh (name changed), the father of another victim, was shocked when Vivek informed him. His daughter, trembling with fear, eventually confessed to being sexually exploited. She described being introduced to the boys by other girls and taken to cafés, where she was forced to undress, photographed, kissed, and coerced into degrading acts. The boys treated her like an object, slapping and abusing her. Suresh, unable to recount the full horror, noted his daughter still struggled to sleep. She, too, had an identical Chinese phone.
Victim 3: Shyam (name changed), the maternal uncle of another minor, shared that his niece, a classmate of the other victims, had similar experiences. She had become withdrawn, avoiding social interactions and staying home. On February 14, she was restless to leave the house, but Shyam, aware of Valentine’s Day risks, forbade it. Only after stern questioning did she admit her involvement, having changed noticeably in recent months.
Victim 4: The fourth victim’s family was out of town during Organiser’s visit, but their daughter, also a student at the same school, was trapped in a similar manner.
What happened in Ajmer?
For two years in early 90’s, a gang of Muslim youths in Ajmer deceived and raped girls from schools and colleges, photographing them nude for blackmail. Using film cameras, they captured images resembling magazine spreads, which were processed at a colour laboratory. These pictures were then used to extort victims and force them to recruit others.
The case came to light when Purushottam, a darkroom assistant at a colour photo lab, decided to expose the gang. He leaked the incriminating images to the media and public, prompting police action. Credit for breaking the story goes to Santosh Gupta, a journalist at Dainik Navjyoti, who published a report with four of these pictures on May 17, 1992. The exposé triggered chaos in Ajmer, leading to a bandh on May 19 and a lawyers’ procession the next day demanding the culprits’ immediate arrest.
A case (FIR Number: 117/1992) was registered at Ganj police station and later transferred to the CID’s crime branch.
Out of the original 18 accused, eight were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998. However, four of them were later acquitted by higher courts. Of the remaining four, one died by suicide, one was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 but later acquitted, one was convicted in a related case but later acquitted, and one is still absconding.
Why does the comparison matter?
These cases must be analysed in light of past instances, as all three follow a disturbingly similar pattern. In each case, girls—often from the same schools, colleges, or social circles—were systematically targeted. After trapping one victim, the perpetrators used her to lure others, creating a chain of exploitation. In Bijainagar, existing friendships among the victims made this tactic easier to execute, while in Ajmer, over 250 girls were reportedly trapped through similar methods of coercion.
In Ajmer, perpetrators used film cameras to take compromising photos, which were then processed in a colour lab and used for blackmail. In Bijainagar, compact Chinese phones—with SIM cards registered by the accused—enabled covert communication and coercion, allowing the devices to be easily hidden from families. In Bhopal, mobile-shot video clips were used for similar exploitation.
All three cases involved brutal intimidation. In Bijainagar, girls who resisted were subjected to verbal and physical abuse, including knife cuts on their wrists, accompanied by chants resembling the Kalma, framed as divine punishment. In Ajmer, the threat of public shaming through the release of nude photos ensured compliance. A similar pattern was observed in Bhopal.
Families in Bijainagar reported that the accused taught the girls Islamic practices, urging them to abandon Hindu traditions, observe Roza, offer Namaz, and adopt the hijab or burqa. They believed the group intended to perform nikah during Ramzan. In Ajmer, while conversion was not explicitly documented, the targeting of Hindu girls by Muslim perpetrators raised similar concerns about religious motives. In Bhopal, the victims were reportedly asked to convert and wear a burqa in preparation for nikah.
All these cases preyed on emotionally vulnerable girls. In Bijainagar, many victims came from unstable family backgrounds—some had lost a parent or were living with relatives—making them easier to manipulate. In Ajmer, girls were similarly exploited through flattery, false promises, or manipulation of their ambitions. The same occurred in Bhopal, where two girls from the same family were trapped after losing their parents.
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