‘Sarpa dosha’ remedy costs man dear, gang of sadhus held

Bizman spent ₹37 lakh for rituals to get rid of his fear of snakes

July 06, 2022 12:03 am | Updated 12:06 am IST - HYDERABAD

The puja paraphernalia recovered by police. 

The puja paraphernalia recovered by police.  | Photo Credit: ARRANGEMENT

Fear of snakes and persisting anxiety about facing the reptiles led a businessman from Bhongir to lose ₹37.71 lakh over two years to a gang of fake sadhus from Rajasthan.

In November 2020, Kondal Reddy of Ramakrishnapuram village came across a snake for the first time. Scared out of his wits, he lost control of his motorcycle, fell down and sustained injuries. A month later, when he was at his office, two sadhus who came by seeking alms learnt about the incident, and advised a 'sarpa dosha' puja.

Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh M. Bhagwat, explaining the incident and following events on Tuesday, said Mr. Reddy lost several instalments of ₹41, 000 per puja to the sadhus, and eventually, about ₹37.71 lakh.

The accused sadhus Sanjunath, Goraknath, Ramnath, Jonath, Govindnath and Arjunath had visited the victim’s house to perform the puja, and had asked him to deposit the money with other agents, through which they got their share.

All the accused and agents were identified as businessmen from Rajasthan. A total of ₹8.30 lakh in cash, money-counting machines and puja material was recovered from them. They have been booked for cheating, criminal intimidation and under provisions of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.