Mira Road palmist arrested for raping woman, taking obscene photos

The accused runs a Facebook page called Palmistry by Expert Vinodji Pandit, where he claims he can solve people’s problems through black magic and witchcraft

MUMBAI: The Naya Nagar police have arrested a con godman and palmist for allegedly raping a 26-year-old woman and taking obscene photographs of her.

Mira Road palmist arrested for raping woman, taking obscene photos

Police officials suspect that Santosh Potdar alias Vinod Pandit, 55, might have sexually exploited at least three other women after finding obscene photographs of them on his phone.

The accused runs a Facebook page called Palmistry by Expert Vinodji Pandit, where he claims he can solve people’s problems through black magic and witchcraft. He has an office in Shanti Nagar, Mira Road, where he meets clients.

In 2020, the woman, who was unemployed back then, had sought Pandit’s advice after discovering his Facebook page. The woman, in her statement to the police, said that Pandit tried to convince her that she would get a job if she had sex with him.

The woman reached out to Pandit again in April 2022 after she started having marital problems. That’s when Pandit, in the name of performing black magic, spiked her drink and then raped her, she alleged. The police said Pandit also clicked obscene photos of the woman, blackmailed her using them and raped her repeatedly for around three years.

On Monday, the woman lodged a complaint, based on which the Naya Nagar police registered an FIR against Pandit under sections 376(2)(n) (repeatedly raping the same woman), 377 (unnatural intercourse) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. Pandit was arrested and taken to a local court on Thursday, which remanded him to police custody.

The investigating officer of the case said the police found obscene photographs of three other women in the accused’s mobile phone. Police inspector Abdul Haq Desai of the Naya Nagar police station said there was a possibility that Pandit sexually exploited and blackmailed other women too. The police are now contacting the women to record their statements.