Astrologer, five accomplices booked for duping Borivali woman of ₹52 lakh

Astrologer and accomplices booked for duping a woman of ₹52 lakh, claiming to protect her son. Police investigating under relevant laws.

MUMBAI: The Borivali police have booked an astrologer and his five accomplices for allegedly duping a 57-year-old woman of ₹52 lakh on the pretext of ensuring her son’s well-being and success in business. The astrologer extracted cash, gold jewellery and other valuables from the woman over six years, claiming they were required to fend off threats facing her son, and the police have booked him under the the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013 and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

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According to the police, Geeta Pandit, a resident of Shimpoli in Borivali West, met the accused astrologer Vijay Joshi in 2019 in Igatpuri, where she was undertaking a course in astrology. A person named Subhash Brida, who introduced the two, told Pandit that Joshi was a famous astrologer who could predict the future of children prior to their birth and was also capable of solving financial or personal problems.

Pandit subsequently attended prayer sessions at a temple in Borivali, where she met other members of the prayer group, including Rachna Dalvi, Nilesh Mane, Kishore Tawde, Ruchita Chavan and Prathamesh Mayekar.

In 2021, after Joshi started an astrology consultancy in Mira Road, he advised Pandit’s son Prathamesh to become a partner in a hotel in Navi Mumbai and invest ₹2.5 lakh. A Hyderabad-based businessman was the major investor in the hotel, Joshi told Pandit, following which she paid him the amount.

In 2023, Joshi claimed that the investor wanted his money back and had threatened to commit suicide after writing a note naming Prathamesh and extracted more money from her. By 2024, he had extracted cash, jewellery and valuables worth ₹52 lakh from Pandit on the pretext opf protecting her son from various kinds of misfortune. Joshi had ‘borrowed’ some of the funds for a week, but had not returned the same, Pandit told police.

The Borivali West resident approached the police after she found out that the Hyderabad-based businessman had not threatened to commit suicide and that by Joshi and members of the prayer group had mortgaged her jewellery with a private gold-mortgage finance firm.

Based on her complaint, Joshi and his five accomplices were booked under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 2(1), 3(2) and 5 of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act.

“An investigation is underway, and we are verifying the facts and financial transactions mentioned in the complaint,” said a police officer from Borivali police station.