Odisha police arrested a 24-year-old man named Mohammad Samir Mansoori on charges of blackmailing a woman and attempting to coerce her into marriage through forced religious conversion. Mansoori, originally from East Champaran district in Bihar, was working as an electrician in Kashmir, police stated.
According to Bhubaneswar DCP Pinak Mishra, the woman from Jagatsinghpur district met Mansoori in 2022 via an online gaming app, which led to a relationship. “He won her trust and even traveled to Odisha to meet her. They spent some time together in Puri, where he allegedly forced her into a physical relationship,” said the DCP, referencing the FIR.
The complaint alleges that after the meeting, the woman tried to distance herself from Mansoori. In response, he reportedly threatened to make video clips of their intimate moments public. “He forced me to convert and marry him. When I refused, he made some of our intimate moments viral and blackmailed my father,” the woman alleged.
DCP Mishra noted that Mansoori also demanded money from her and, when she did not comply, he allegedly shared the videos with her family and friends. Police have seized his mobile phones, along with his PAN and Aadhaar cards, and sent the devices to a forensic lab for examination.
Acting on information from the woman, who had notified police of Mansoori’s plan to visit Odisha again, a trap was set to capture him. The case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act at the Mahila Police Station.
When asked about the possibility of “love jihad,” DCP Mishra responded that investigations are exploring all aspects, including potential connections with other women. The term “love jihad” is often used by right-wing groups to claim a strategy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women through marriage.
