Police arrest exorcist from graveyard in Borivali

The accused, identified as Sunil Chaubey alias Bhagatbaba, had cheated at least six to eight persons including a woman from Thane of thousands of rupees

Thane: The Padgha police on Tuesday nabbed a Titwala resident while he was allegedly performing some rituals at a graveyard in Borivali to exorcise evil spirits that had purportedly taken possession of a 17-year-old girl. The girl’s parents had approached the man after doctors failed to cure her illness, and he had indicated that a human sacrifice would be necessary if other rituals failed, said police.

The accused was identified as Dheeraj, a resident of Maloya, Chandigarh. Earlier on Sunday, police had arrested the primary accused, Dheeraj Kumar, a native of Uttar Pradesh. (iStock)

The accused, identified as Sunil Chaubey alias Bhagatbaba, had cheated at least six to eight persons including a woman from Thane of thousands of rupees, police officials added. He was produced in court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody for four days.

According to the police, the girl lived with her parents in Thane Chetna Shirodkar. She got married in 2017, but soon, her husband left her due to some family issues, after which she fell ill.

“The girl’s family took her to many doctors and tried various kinds of treatment, but she did not recover. So when someone suggested they meet this Bhagatbaba, they responded positively and were ready to pay any amount to cure her,” said a police official.

The accused told the family that the girl was possessed by an evil spirit and some rituals would have to be performed seven times, including at a graveyard at midnight on the last occasion. If these rituals failed, human sacrifice would be essential, they were told.

Late at night on MondayChaubey took the complainant in a car to a graveyard in the Padgha Borivali area, where seven to eight of his followers were present with some black magic materials. He arranged all the materials and started performing some rituals by beating the girl and two others to release her from the spell of the spirit.

“Some villagers noticed this around 1am at night and informed us,” said the officer. A police team raided the spot following the tip-off and nabbed the accused red-handed. “Villagers told us about several such fake rituals done by him and said he often suggested human sacrifice,” the officer added.

Chaubey was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday under The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice, other Inhuman and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.