Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Jan 6: An astrologer has been arrested by the Pandeshwar police for cheating and misleading the people.

In a press release, rationalist Prof Narendra Nayak explained how he and a girl posing as his daughter conducted a sting operation to left the veil off the bogus astrologer and get him arrested.

"It was certainly not the day of the astrologer as Pandit Krishna Sharma found out. Or was it Pandit Vidya Shankar as the pamphlet said? Or are both pseudonyms to cheat the gullible? These are the questions to the Pandeshwar police, who have now arrested a person under sections for cheating, impersonation and various other acts pertaining to medical practice. The story appears to much deeper than what is seems to be.

"On January 3, I had received a pamphlet inserted into my daily newspaper, purportedly by a Pandit Vidya Shankar who claimed to be South India’s most popular and highly experience(sic) mantrik astrologer. He promised cure for sexual diseases, sterility, to ‘soften’ enemies, collect outstanding amounts and a variety of such. In fact, the said pamphlet appears to be a very panacea for all problems that human beings can ever face in their lives! Intrigued by these I called the number and the voice at the other end said that he was in Udupi but was coming to Mangaluru on January 8.
When searched on Truecaller, it was an Airtel number registered in the name of Mo Dullicpp which obviously appears to be a false name. He said that he would call me when he came to Mangaluru. When I kept on asking him as to when he would come, he said he was coming on January 5 and would inform me," Prof Nayak said.

"So, to set up a sting for him, I asked Pramila, a DYFI activist, to pose as my daughter and she was into the loop. After a number of calls during which he said he was busy with a puja and a variety of such alibis, he gave us an appointment in the evening and asked us to come at 4 pm. So, we went there as a father-daughter duo, the daughter being married for eight years and sent home as she could not conceive. When we met the 'famous' South India mantrik-astrologer in his office at Attavar, it turned out that it was not he who was in the office but another one of the famous ones of South India - Pandit Sri Ramakrishna Sharma - so to us it was very clear that there was more than one such.

"However, this man assured us that he could solve our problems and started taking the case history of my 'daughter' promising her quick results. He also claimed to have a mantra for sterility. He also promised to perform pujas for the same purpose. It was obvious that he had absolutely no ‘powers’ of any sort because he could not find out that we both were lying through our teeth and the whole thing was being recorded. He also demanded a sum of Rs 11,300 and asked for an advance. I told him that I had only a 2,000 note but would like to ask my wife before handing over and went out to call the police. Them I entered his room and my 'daughter' was made to hand the note over to him by placing it under the photos of the myriad of gods placed by his side.

"Then it was time for the revelation. We told him that he was a fool and a cheat. It was obvious that he was one, because when I had told him that my name was Narendra he asked whether it was Narendra Nayak. I said it was not Nayak but Poojary and he apparently believed it! The police have arrested him under various sections of the law for impersonation and cheating.

"But how about the larger ramifications of this racket? There seems to be a gang of thugs operating this way. In fact, in the office of the arrested man there were two persons sitting outside keeping a watch over the proceedings while there was a third one keeping a lookout for any raids. The tragedy of the whole issue is that there were two women inside when we went for consultation and when ours was going on there were two others waiting outside who disappeared when the police came in. It was clear that he had cheated the apparently mother- daughter duo who had gone before us of Rs 8,000 as there was a chit to that amount. There was another such duo sitting outside to consult him after us but ran away when the police came in! When we exposed him he was trying to frantically call some one telling them in Marathi to come quickly and arrange for a lawyer too," Prof Nayak said.

"The next day when we went to the building where he was running the racket and spoke to the people there, we were told that early in the morning a gang of four people had come to take care of his bail and other things. We came to know that he is in rented premises which was given actually for residential use which he converted into his place of business, in which he was cheating the gullible, particularly women who had problems. He would tell them that the problems would be solved and collect amounts from them. We met a lady from a village nearby who had paid him Rs 30,000 for solving her problems but when we told her to complain to police about it she was hesitant, probably because she had paid the amount without the knowledge of her family. He had not spared even the woman who was sweeping the building. It seems that her husband had deserted her and he had collected Rs 50,000 from her saying that he would reunite them.

"From enquiries, we made it was clear that it was women whom he was exploiting. We were also told that his modus operandi was to collect their horoscope and blackmail them into paying for getting it back. The neighbours were very angry at the cheating this man and his gang were doing and told us that they tried to warn those who were going to him. But, they also said that he and his gang of thugs would keep a close watch on all people who came to them - they would not be allowed to speak to others around. The landlord of the rented premises where he was conducting his business told us that he would evict him immediately.

"It is up to the Mangalore Police to lodge further investigations into this and expose the whole racket involving gangs, a set up to dupe gullible customers and to hide their tracks by using a number of cell phones. We do hope that the gullible public will become aware these rackets too. But, as the famous showman P T Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute and we have our share of wolves waiting for such! There should be a law to curb such unscrupulous people who exploit gullible believers," Prof Nayak added.