GLENDALE HEIGHTS, Ill. — Prosecutors say a suburban mayor lied about being the victim of an assault on two separate occasions after a long-running and heated dispute with a village trustee.

Glendale Heights village president Chodri Ma Khokhar, 66, is charged with two counts of disorderly conduct which is a Class 4 Felony, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. The indictment alleges Khokhar filed a false report with Glendale Heights police and the state’s attorney’s office on April 26 and again on May 12 — claiming he had been the victim of a threatened assault by a village trustee. 

The indictment says the village president filed a report claiming “Mohammad Siddiqui, a Glendale Heights village trustee, threatened to bite the defendant knowing at the time it was false.”

WGN Investigates reviewed months of video recordings of village board meetings to better understand the animosity between the two.

“You are ruining this city,” Trustee Siddiqui told Mayor Khokhar at a meeting four days before the first police report was filed. “It’s unbearable for me to stay quiet.”

The mayor called another trustee an “angry person” at the same meeting. 

“I’m not angry.  I love you.  I love you to death,” trustee Chester Pojack responded.  “Thank you very much,” Khokar responded just before Pojack added “I’m lying.”

Glendale Heights village board meetings have taken a raucous tone as vocal residents and trustees clash with the mayor over everything from stipends for attending village events to cricket fields in the community.   

“You are a loser,” Mayor Khokhar told resident Michael Ontiveroz when he questioned Khokhar about receiving stipend payments for attending a resident’s wake at a January board meeting. 

“Is that how you treat residents – calling people ‘losers?’” Ontiveroz responded. 

“You are a loser,” the mayor fired back. Ontiveroz said he lost the village presidency race by two votes to Khokhar in 2022. 

“Finally, sanity prevailed,” Trustee Siddiqui said in an email to WGN Investigates.  “I and my family were [the] subject of his harassment and that’s why he filed a lawsuit and included my wife’s sister, her husband & her son. I have full confidence in our judiciary, our police department, [and the] DuPage County investigation.”  Siddiqui declined to comment on the reasons behind the feud between the two because Khokhar previously filed a defamation lawsuit against him seeking more than $50,000. 

Mayor Khokar did not respond to requests for comment. Khokar turned himself into police Thursday evening where he was processed and released on a recognizance bond.

Illinois law allows people charged with crimes to continue serving in elected office. However, a conviction will immediately render them ineligible to continue serving.  

“The Village of Glendale Heights is aware of the charges on Village President Chodri Ma Khokhar,” village administrator Doug Flint told WGN Investigates in an emailed statement. “The Village is cooperating and will continue to cooperate with the DuPage County States Attorney and the DuPage County States Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit.”