On June 5, Monday, a national-level baseball player Sanjana Barkade committed suicide by hanging herself after facing continued threats to convert to Islam in the Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh. The accused who has been identified as Abdul Mansoori alias Rajan Khan was arrested on Thursday by Sanjeevni Nagar police on charges of abetment to suicide. The deceased victim’s mother said that Abdul Mansoori was pressuring Sanjana to convert to Islam. Sanjana’s father said that Abdul lied about his real identity to trap the victim. Sanjana hanged herself in her bedroom while her parents were away at a family function.
According to a Dainik Bhaskar report, the investigation indicated that Abdul Mansoori and Sanjana Barkade had been in a relationship for over a year. A few days ago, the two had a rift over an Instagram story. On the other hand, Sanjana’s friends said that she was quite jittery after hearing the news of love jihad cases. She distanced herself from Abdul, but he continued to threaten her.
The deceased victim’s mother claimed that the accused threatened her over the phone a few days ago. Accused Abdul Mansoori had asked, “You’re the girl’s mother? It’s good that you picked up the call. I wanted to talk to you only. You persuade your daughter to accept our religion (Islam). I want to do nikah with your daughter. If you do not accept our religion, we have come to find out where you live. We will kill you. Nothing will happen if you accept Islam.”
After hanging up the phone, Sanjana’s mother inquired as to who the caller was. Sanjana responded by saying she did not know him and switched off her phone. Meanwhile, Sanjana’s father stated that he learned three months ago that the person Sanjana spoke with on the phone was not a Hindu boy Rajan but a Muslim. Sanjana distanced herself from Abdul after learning about his real identity. This infuriated accused Abdul, who tortured Sanjana. He also stole Sanjana’s documents, as well as medals and certificates which she won in various baseball competitions. When Sanjana asked him to return her medals and documents, Abdul asked her to convert to Islam.
Meanwhile, the deceased victim’s father stated that the perpetrator was detained following his complaint. This has given him some relief, however, justice will be served only when Abdul gets punished. According to the police, Abdul told them during interrogation that his relationship with Sanjana had been going on for a year. He also visited Jabalpur three times to meet Sanjana. But Sanjana began distancing from him. He was continually pressuring her to continue the relationship by threatening to make her pictures and videos viral on social media if she did not consent.
Following Sanjana’s suicide, police are trying to determine the cause of the fight between the accused and the deceased victim. Sanjana’s father has reportedly accused Abdul Mansoori, a street vendor in Rewa of trapping his daughter in love jihad.