A Muslim woman’s complaint in Odisha’s Kendrapada district has triggered a high‑profile probe into allegations that her husband trapped Hindu women in a planned love jihad scheme and received up to ₹10 lakh per marriage from supporting organizations. Police have begun investigating both the alleged fraud and the claim of an organized financial reward network, as public anger and political pressure mount in the state.
The Kendrapada Complaint
The case surfaced after Farida Khatoon, a resident of the Kendrapada Sadar police station area, filed a written complaint naming her husband, Sajjuddin (also reported as Sajjuddin Khan), as the main accused. Farida stated that she married Sajjuddin in 2020 and the couple have one child, but he allegedly abandoned her about two years after the child’s birth.
Farida’s application to the Kendrapada superintendent of police alleges that Sajjuddin repeatedly posed as unmarried, targeted Hindu women, drew them into romantic relationships, and then married them under false pretenses. According to her account, he has so far allegedly trapped at least two Hindu women and married another Muslim woman after leaving his first family.
Cash Rewards Per Marriage
The most explosive part of Farida’s statement is the claim that certain Muslim organizations are offering a cash reward of ₹10 lakh for every marriage with a Hindu woman. She has alleged that her husband received a total of ₹20 lakh after marrying two Hindu women, and that he abandoned these women after receiving the money.
Reports in Hindi and Punjabi-language outlets say Farida described this as a planned love jihad operation in which financially vulnerable or opportunistic men are allegedly incentivized to conceal their marital status and religious identity to entrap non‑Muslim women. The claim of an organized payment mechanism, if proven, would mark a significant escalation from individual fraud cases to a structured network with financial backing.
Pattern of Multiple Marriages and Deception
Farida’s complaint outlines a pattern in which Sajjuddin:
- Hid his existing marriage and child while targeting new women.
- Introduced himself as a bachelor to innocent Hindu women, established physical relationships, and pressured them into marriage.
- Left the women after allegedly obtaining reward money per marriage.
The case took a new turn when the father of a Hindu woman from Nagpura area approached Kendrapada police, alleging that Sajjuddin misled his daughter, married her, and took her to Hyderabad. This second complaint is expected to strengthen the police case if investigators corroborate both women’s accounts and trace financial transactions.
Police Investigation and Official Response
Kendrapada superintendent of police Siddharth Kataria has publicly stated that the case is being treated with seriousness and that all allegations are under detailed examination. He has said that action will be taken as per law once facts are verified, indicating that investigators are checking not only bigamy, cheating and criminal intimidation, but also any evidence of an organized funding network.
Police teams are reported to be:
- Recording statements of Farida, the other women involved, and their family members.
- Trying to verify travel and residence records, including the alleged Hyderabad stay.
- Examining banking and digital financial trails to see if any large payments from organizations or individuals can be linked to Sajjuddin around the periods of the alleged marriages.
As of the latest reports, no organization has been officially named in FIR documents, and investigators have not publicly confirmed the ₹10 lakh‑per‑marriage reward as fact, treating it as a serious allegation under verification.
Local Outrage and Political Pressure
The allegations have sparked anger in Kendrapada, with local residents describing the revelations as shocking and demanding decisive action. Residents and activists argue that similar patterns of deceptive interfaith relationships have repeatedly emerged in the region and across Odisha, and they accuse authorities of responding too slowly.
Local groups have urged the Odisha government to:
- Order a high‑level probe into any alleged financial reward network.
- Track inter‑district and inter‑state links, including alleged movement of women to states such as Telangana.
- Consider a dedicated law against love jihad, on the lines of legislation adopted in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some other BJP‑ruled states.
The state government has not yet announced any special law, but it has been under parallel pressure over social issues around such cases of love jihad (sexual grooming for converting to Islam).
National Context and Love Jihad Debate
The Odisha case emerges against a larger national backdrop in which the term love jihad has become a powerful political and social flashpoint. In several northern and central states, this is a pattern of Muslim men hiding their identity, luring Hindu women into relationships, and coercing conversion and marriage. States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have enacted laws tightening rules on religious conversion and interfaith marriage and mandating prior declarations, citing these love jihad cases as justification.
The Kendrapada allegations of ₹10 lakh‑per‑marriage payments go a step further by suggesting systemic financial engineering targeting Hindu women, if verified, would significantly reshape the legal and political debate around such grooming cases.
What Happens Next
The Kendrapada police probe will hinge on three critical questions: whether Farida’s allegations of multiple fraudulent marriages are corroborated by victims’ testimonies; whether financial records confirm the alleged ₹10 lakh‑per‑marriage reward; and whether any identifiable organizations or networks can be linked to those funds.
Investigators’ findings are likely to shape not only the immediate criminal case against Sajjuddin, but also a wider political push in Odisha for stricter laws on religious conversion and targeting grooming of Hindu women by Islamists, at a time when similar debates are already reshaping legal and social landscapes across several Bharatiya states.
