Hyderabad: Fake babas are luring gullible victims by challenging them to prove their divinity wrong. Some godmen even offer lakhs as reward if anybody can prove that he has no divine powers.
Once the victim is trapped he will be fleeced by the babas who use different techniques to extort money.
The babas, who have a presence even in posh areas, promise to solve issues connected with marriages, court cases, diseases, ghosts and even film careers.
Most register their establishment as astrology firms to escape law enforcement agencies.
“Baba said in two hours he would solve my relationship issues. I had to pay Rs 3,600 as first installment. He chanted some verses and told me that some people had done black magic. I was asked to pay some more money to get rid of the evil. Nothing changed even after two months. But he claims that he has set everything right and I have to grow intellectually to understand that. Though I lost my money, I did not go to police fearing his curse,” said a gullible victim, 45-year-old Khalid Ahmed from Talabkatta.
There are another group of godmen known as ‘phone babas’ operating in the city. In order to prevent victims from hounding them these babas solve problems through telephone conversations without disclosing their location.
The crooks, who keep changing locations from the city to other states give advertisements in newspapers and distribute leaflets. They ask people to deposit money in bank accounts for their services.
Police officers, who started probing the cases of ‘phone babas’, found that either they move to other states once they cheat victims or operate from other states using Hyderabad SIM cards.
“In one case, the bank account of a baba is in SBI Ghaziabad. He might be operating from either New Delhi or UP but claim that he is in Hyderabad,” said a Cyber Crime official from Cyberabad.
When a DC reporter called up one of the babas pretending to have problems in family life, the man said that he can talk over the phone and solve the issue. “I will meet you only after solving the issue. If the problem is not solved, I will give you Rs 8 lakh as reward,” he said.
He then asked for personal details and predicted that the issue can be solved in an hour. He asked the reporter to deposit Rs 4,200 in a bank account held in UP. When asked about his whereabouts in the city he did not give a specific location.
West Zone DCP A. Venkateswar Rao, who had earlier led an operation to arrest a sorcerer, said that the police would nab the fraudsters if anybody lodges a complaint against them.
