The Charkop police arrested a 26-year-old Malad man, who made a housewife believe that she was a victim of black magic, and cheated her of jewellery and cash amounting to Rs. 3.5 lakh over the past two years.
According to the Charkop police, the accused, identified as Sagar Joshi, first approached the victim, Samidha Nalawade (43), in August 2014 when she was alone at her residence in Laljipada, Kandivali.
Investigations revealed that before approaching her, Joshi made several trips to the area, befriended local shopkeepers and gathered information about domestic problems of several residents. He then zeroed in on Ms. Nalawade, and visited her when her husband was at work and her in-laws were away, the police said.
“The accused first asked her if she was facing any problems at home, and rattled off a list of common problems faced by people in everyday life. Two of these, the illness of a child and marital issues, hit home as Ms. Nalawade’s nine-year-old daughter had been keeping unwell, and she had minor disagreements with her husband at the time. He told her that he would conduct rituals that would help her in exchange for a nominal sum of Rs 11. However, while she was paying him the money, he suddenly told her that he had detected ‘an invisible presence’ in the house,” said Senior Police Inspector Ramchandra Gaikwad, Charkop police station.
Ms. Nalawade, fell for the lie. He told her that the ‘invisible presence’ was due to black magic that her in-laws had been practising against her. He took her to the Marwe beach and conducted a ‘ritual’, during which he burned saffron, turmeric, incense and wood and gave her the ashes, telling her to keep it hidden from her husband.
Joshi then visited Ms. Nalawade’s residence frequently when she was alone at home under the pretext of checking the progress of the effect of his rituals. About a year later, he told her that her husband, too, was conducting black magic rituals against her and her daughter. “During this time, someone or the other would be frequently ill in the Nalawade household, and the problems between Ms. Nalawade and her husband also continued,” Mr. Gaikwad said.
In December 2015, Joshi allegedly told her that he needed to conduct a major ritual in Tuljapur, a pilgrim town in Osmanabad, which involved sacrificing seven goats, which would solve all her problems. To fund the ritual, Ms. Nalawade gave him all her jewellery and savings, amounting to Rs 3.65 lakh in all, after which Joshi disappeared. He stopped taking her calls, after which she smelled a rat. She then approached a local NGO, and the members told her she had basis for a police case, after which she registered a complaint with the Charkop police.
