Two men posing as ‘god men’ dupe woman of ₹32K in Noida, arrested

A sales executive with a private firm was allegedly duped of ₹32,000 by two men posing as “god men” in October. The police said that two suspects were nabbed on

A sales executive with a private firm was allegedly duped of ₹32,000 by two men posing as “god men” in October. The police said that two suspects were nabbed on Monday in this connection and handed over to the Expressway police.

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The executive, Dipika Sangwan (28), is from Haryana and is living in a high rise in Greater Noida West. She works as a sales executive for a brokerage firm in Noida.

In her complaint, she alleged that she was duped by the two suspects on October 21, 2019.

“I was on my way to office around 11am. Somewhere near Sector 126, two men came to me and asked me for ₹10 to buy some food for themselves They must have seen that I was carrying some money with me in my wallet, after which they offered me some prasad laced with sedatives,” alleged Sangwan in her police complaint.

She then said that she felt groggy. “The duo said that I should hand over the money that I had so that they could put some blessed ash on it. That way, I will never face any monetary problems in my life, they said. I was in a daze and gave them the ₹32,000 I had on me, after which the two fled,” she alleged.

Police said that on Monday, the woman was with three of her colleagues in Sector 104’s Hazipur market around 2pm when she spotted the two suspects, who were later identified as Veernath (30) and Peelunath (20), both residents of Ghazipur in Delhi.

“Sangwan and her colleagues brought them to the police station, after which they were booked,” said Bhuvnesh Kumar, station house officer, Expressway police station.

He said the woman had informed the Sector 126 police post about the incident when it had taken place, but as no details about the suspects were known, so she didn’t follow it up.

“There have been similar incidents under the Sector 20 and Phase 2 police jurisdictions and we are working on identifying whether these two may have been involved in them or working with a larger gang,” said the SHO.

He said that nothing objectionable was found on their person. The duo said that earlier, the suspects used to work as snake charmers but due to stringent animal laws now, they had shifted to working as “god men”.

Based on her complaint, a case was registered at the Expressway police station against the two under Sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison etc) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC.

They were produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.