A Hyderabad businessman who conducted a pooja in his house with the intention of ridding himself and his family of medical and financial troubles was instead robbed of over a crore in cash.

According to the police, Madhusudhan Reddy, a businessman who owns the Lifestyle Shopping Complex in Begumpet, invited a “baba” to his house to perform a “rice-pulling pooja”, based on the recommendation of his son Sandesh Reddy.

For the ritual, the family were asked to bring out all their assets so that they could be blessed. On Wednesday, the baba conducted the ritual, and then offered a prasad to Madhusudhan, his wife and Sandesh.  

Immediately after the family consumed the prasad, they fainted.

The baba, along with his driver, then allegedly fled from the house with cash worth Rs 1.3 crore.

According to a person close to the household, at around 6pm, the domestic help and the driver employed by Madhusudhan became suspicious and entered the house, to find all three members of the family lying unconscious. 

They immediately shifted them to Apollo Hospital in Banjara hills. Madhusudhan’s relatives later informed the police about the incident.

The police say that the baba in question has a prior record, having already robbed a family in Alipiri, Tirupati of cash worth Rs 2 lakhs.