E-Paper
Two arrested, godman among four on the run for duping family of ₹5 lakh
Two men have been arrested by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Friday while the police are on the lookout for four others for making a family from Hyderabad believe that their leader was a godman who would help the family members solve their financial woes with the help of his occult knowledge
Two men have been arrested by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Friday while the police are on the lookout for four others for making a family from Hyderabad believe that their leader was a godman who would help the family members solve their financial woes with the help of his occult knowledge. The two arrested men were tantriks working with the main accused. A local court in Pimpri has remanded them to three days in police custody.
The two arrested men have been identified as Narendra Hanumant Gaikwad (52), a resident of Ishwar Niwas in Pimpri; Ganesh Maruti Chavan (38), a resident of Chavannagar in Rupinagar area of Bhosari, according to the police.
A complaint was lodged by Anand Surendar Jain (35) a resident of Hyderabad. Two of the four other accused were identified as self-proclaimed godman Chandrakant Nayar, and Balasaheb Maruti Mohite, and two others remain unidentified, according to the police.
Since October 2020, Nayar has taken a total of ₹5,13,000 from the complainant’s family for multiple reasons like performing havan (prayers), according to the complainant.
The man sent video clips of occult practices that he claimed he had learned during an alleged training he claimed to have undergone for 25 years at a goddess temple in Guwahati, Assam.
On Friday, the godman and his accomplice were chased out of a graveyard in Bhose village of Bhosari.
“Last night (January 29), they brought the complainant to the graveyard in the village and they ran away when the locals started asking them questions. That’s when the complainant approached us,” said Assistant police inspector (API) Vikram Gaikwad of Chakan police station who is investigating the case.
The complainant’s family own a transport business and cosmetics’ trade in Hyderabad and were experiencing financial trouble, according to their complaint.
“The driver of the complainant told him that he knew of a godman through his social circles and got his number. The man made them transfer money in two transactions - once for ₹5 lakh and once ₹13,000. We are tracking the main accused and three others now,” said API Gaikwad.
A case under Section 3(1)(2)(3) of Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, has been registered at Chakan police station against the six people.
