Faisal Khan, better known to 25 million YouTube subscribers as Khan Sir, grew up in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, earned a BSc and MA in Geography from the University of Allahabad, and arrived in Patna with six students and a room. What he has built from humble beginnings is, perhaps, one of modern India’s greatest education stories; his YouTube channel, Khan GS Research Centre, hit a record-breaking 10 lakh in a single month of subscriptions in India. Khan Global Studies, his coaching institute, charges a tenth of what its competitors do and have even offered education free of charge, for those who cannot afford even this nominal amount. Students from Bihar’s poorest families, some of whom worked manually to earn money to cover lodging, cracked the BPSC, the Bihar Police and the UPSC examinations under Khan Sir’s mentorship. He didn’t build a business; he built access.
On the night of June 2, 2026, a group of approximately 20 people allegedly linked to rival coaching institute Gyan Bindu Coaching Centre attacked Khan Global Studies, vandalizing property and assaulting a security guard. Khan’s guards fired in the air to disperse the attackers. After their arrest, they allegedly told police the firing happened on Khan Sir’s instructions. An FIR was lodged against Khan Sir under Section 109 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for attempt to murder, alongside relevant sections of the Arms Act. A five-member special police team was formed. The fire safety inspections were carried out later and, although deficiencies were noted in the institute, there was no threat of sealing unless it was rectified in a week’s time. Interim relief from arrest was granted to Khan Sir by the Patna court on June 9 and police were allowed to interrogate him, but they were prevented from arresting him. He has been missing since. Police are conducting searches for him.
A Muslim Educator in the BJP’s Bihar
Faisal Khan is Muslim and has been listed as one of India’s most influential Muslims in 2025. It is his name, his faith, and his position as an educator that have all made him the target of pro-Hindutva social media platforms for years. Photos from his wedding in 2025 went viral showing his wife wearing a burqa and he was forced to publicly state that this was her personal choice. An educator’s wife’s attire becoming the subject of a national debate is an unsettling commentary on the reality a Muslim public figure faces in contemporary India.
His case falls into a documented pattern and a system. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom listed in their 2025 Annual Report India as a Country of Particular Concern for the use of legal tools to harass religious minorities. The RSF World Press Freedom Index 2026 ranked India 157th, based on among other groups, Muslim journalists and commentators as one of its most targeted populations. India’s cow slaughter laws, which are most ardently enforced against Muslim cattle traders and their families, carry life imprisonment in multiple states and have been a part of mob lynchings and instances of police brutality against Muslims, where officers were garlanded for their violence. The legal machinery is not neutral; it has specific targets and those targets are disproportionately Muslim.
Khan Sir’s case has specific features that distinguish it from a routine criminal investigation. The FIR was registered against the victim of an attack, not only against its perpetrators. The fire safety inspections were done post the filing of the FIR and not prior to the incident. The BJP’s announcement of action taken ‘as per law’ only addressed the issue pertaining to Khan Sir and not to the attackers who initiated the violence. The BJP reiterated that action would be taken against those breaking the law, the statement made prior to any investigation being completed.
It is not the people on television debates who will suffer the most from the present predicament of Khan Sir. The students are stuck in Patna’s lodges, studying under single lightbulbs for competitive examinations and have found an answer to their financial struggles in Khan Global Studies. Regardless of the legal outcome, the disruption of their studies is already apparent as their educational institute is under investigation and the founder has gone missing. The question of whether Bihar’s most accessible educator in its most competitive region can continue to operate is now a legal and political matter. The question does not exist in a vacuum, as an educator of Muslim faith successfully building a mass education platform is facing a charge of attempt to murder for his security guards’ actions.
