Hyderabad: The case of the conman who robbed a city businessman of nearly Rs 1.3 crore last week is just a sample of many such frauds. What was unusual was that he was quickly arrested.
There are several conmen pretending to be godmen, claiming they can perform miracles with special pujas, and have taken to local TV channels for publicity.
Local channels regularly telecast advertisements featuring Koya Doras, Baba Ajmal Shah, Baba Osman Shah, Baba Sikander Shah and others. They promise to resolve issues ranging from — court cases, failure in romance, hurdles in business, family and property disputes.
They exploit faith
Ms Sokarabi (name changed) from Moosabowli in the Old City said that her son was diagnosed with diabetes four years back and they went to a ‘baba’ in Chandrayangutta.
“He insisted that we stop medicines and blamed the diabetes on someone close to our family who had caused it with black magic. He charged about Rs 20,000 in instalments. Instead of being cured with his chants, the condition of my son worsened and he had to be hospitalised with hyperglycemia. When we asked the baba, he demanded more money for special pujas,” she said.
Youth are targets for babas who promise them success in romance with vasheekaran puja. Besides, there are ‘phone babas‘ and ‘web babas’ who exploit the public.
Two years back, the South Zone police arrested several notorious exorcists like Balabeer Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Sanjay Kumar and Beluri Srikanth in the Old City.
Some babas have seasonal passes to enter both the AP and TS Secretariats, where they have a free run. These passes are issued only as per the recommendations of ministers and senior officials.
