A 44-year-old self-styled 'Godman', who made frequent TV appearances as an astrologer, was arrested by the Hyderabad police on Wednesday for allegedly sexually exploiting several women.
The accused, identified as Narasimha Charyulu from Prakasam, claimed that he would solve marital problems of couples and then trap women, the police said.
The Meerpet Special Operation Team, which arrested the accused, said that the self-claimed 'baba' was just a Class 10 pass out. He became popular after appearing on TV, claiming to provide astrological solutions to health, wealth and marital problems.
Hyderabad: Astrologer Swami Narasimha Charyulu arrested on charges of cheating. Fake pistol, gold jewelry, laptops and Rs 50 Lakhs seized pic.twitter.com/F6gBOuu24r
— ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2017
“Narsimha Charyulu, posing as a swamiji and astrologer, cheated and blackmailed women by not only collecting several lakh rupees, but also developed physical relationship with them on the pretext of solving their problems,'' LB Nagar DCP M Venkateshwar Rao told TOI.
The arrest was made after a complaint by a woman, who was allegedly cheated by Narasimha. When the victim approached Narasimha, he ‘predicted’ that her husband had a life threat and would die shortly unless a ‘homam' (ritual) was done. Following this, the victim paid Rs 2 lakh and also handed over 1kg of silver to the accused.
The accused told the victim not to reveal this to her husband. However, as the victim's problems persisted, she demanded that he return the money and silver. Following this, Narasimha began avoiding her.
In the same way, Narasimha had cheated several people. When people would approach him and ask for their money back, he would threaten them with a fake weapon and a fake CBI card, police said.
The accused collected several lakh rupees from women, on the pretext of helping them overcome their issues in life, The Times of India reported.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that the police seized a fake pistol, a fake CBI identity card, two tolas of gold, five kilos of silver, Rs 5 cash and an Innova car from the accused’s possession.
The police have registered a case under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, PTI reported.