Inside India's Digital Conversion Network: How Islamist Syndicates Use Social Apps To Lure Hindu Girls

India.com

2 days ago

New Delhi: In what officials characterize as a sustained, non-violent campaign of demographic manipulation, Islamist syndicates operating both inside India and abroad have reportedly targeted Hindu girls using platforms like Telegram, Instagram, Tinder, and Signal. Leveraging covert religious indoctrination and foreign funding, the groups aim to orchestrate mass conversions.
According to a News18 report, this operation, termed 'Soft Jihad,' is allegedly rooted in a 40-year ideological blueprint laid out by Pakistan-based Barelvi and Deobandi networks with the goal of reshaping India's demographic composition. Intelligence analysis of Telegram metadata revealed posting and messaging patterns aligned with time zones in the UAE and Qatar, suggesting direction from Gulf-based handlers.
The prime targets are Hindu girls aged 15–24, those from lower-middle-class families, whom the syndicates approach with false promises of romantic relationships, career help, or marriage. A senior official told the report, 'They are soft targets who are vulnerable to emotional manipulation.'
Once contact is established, the grooming process begins. Authorities say the girls are exposed to religious videos, often featuring speakers like Anwar al-Awlaki and Zakir Naik, extolling the superiority and inevitability of Islam. Over months, psychological dependency sets in, accompanied by mounting religious guilt and pressure to distance themselves from family. Eventually, within six to twelve months, many converts are groomed into becoming recruiters themselves, expanding the operation across Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
Funding for the syndicate reportedly comes from zakat-based contributions routed through sham NGOs such as Delhi's Seher Welfare Society and Lucknow's Sufiya Foundation, both tied to followers of spiritual figure Chhangur Baba, who is under investigation for conversion-linked finances. Agencies say money laundering occurs via cooperative bank accounts, UPI channels, and cryptocurrency wallets connected to Gulf donors. Funds are also routed through hawala networks across Nepal, Bangladesh, and Dubai.
One forensic audit of an Axis Bank account in Faizabad showed Rs 80 lakh deposited in a single month, linked to Gulf remittances. In Balrampur, intelligence agencies reported Rs 35 crore channeled through NGOs presenting themselves as education and welfare outfits. The Enforcement Directorate also uncovered Rs 7 crore transferred via UPI IDs linked to dargah networks in Agra, Mathura, Bareilly, and Firozabad, funds used to pay female recruiters.
Following conversion, girls are allegedly sent to religious institutions in Kerala and Hyderabad for complete indoctrination and conversion. Fabricated identity documents, Aadhaar, and voter cards under Hindu names like 'Ravi' or 'Mohit', enable seemingly legitimate marriages to operative 'grooms,' often Gulf-trained.
Intelligence reports reveal that seminaries like Bhopal's Darul Ulum Tazkiya play a central role in training boys aged 16–22. Between 2018 and 2024, the seminary received Rs 18.5 crore in unaccounted remittances from Doha and Sharjah, primarily for preparing recruiters trained to blend into secular university environments.
Another wing of the syndicate, the Agra Dargah Syndicate, operates near Rawatpara shrine, conducting weekly 'healing sessions' to target Hindu women subtly. According to reports, the top sources said, clerics employed 'Bollywood-style' romance plots to ensnare women, offering jobs and marriage under false Hindu identities.
From 2018 to 2024, intelligence agencies tracked the trafficking of over 300 girls from SC, ST, and OBC Hindu communities, many relocated to southern India under the guise of religious education and conversion. In April 2025, authorities in Uttar Pradesh arrested two lawyers and a sub-registrar for fabricating conversion affidavits linked to 34 cases in Bareilly and Shahjahanpur.
Investigators say the syndicate functions via a multi-state structure, combining digital and physical outreach. A secret Telegram channel, 'Zaytun Council', with more than 2,500 members reportedly coordinates cross-border conversion drives between Kerala and West Bengal. Earlier National Investigation Agency (NIA) probes uncovered over 60 Telegram and Signal groups, largely run out of Kerala, targeting women for conversion and Islamist propaganda.
The so-called Kerala Madrasa Web operates both as a safe house and a radicalization hub. Here, newly converted women are given fresh IDs and instructed in digital Dawah tactics, then dispatched to social media to push propaganda.
Intelligence agencies consider this soft, nonviolent demographic strategy, blending religious indoctrination, emotional manipulation, foreign money, and covert tech outreach, as one of the most organized threats facing India's internal demographic security. Lacking overt violence, it remains hard to track, shielded by its humanitarian veneer that blurs with legitimate NGOs and social support fronts.
Top intelligence sources reveal that dossiers detailing these networks have been shared with central and state enforcement agencies. The warning from officials is clear: this is not a distant threat but a growing reality shaping India's social landscape from within.