Hyderabad: A fake astrologer was arrested by Warangal Commissioner’s Task Force and the Chatrinaka police for allegedly duping people to the tune of Rs 14 lakh on pretext of telling their future and suggest remedies to avoid bad luck.
The accused was identified as Sirigiri Manjunatha, 38, who has been operating under various aliases incuding Bhrammam, Koya Raju, Arjun Raju, and Majnu. He was arrested on Friday, January 12, at MGBS, Gowliguda on charges of duping people and performing black magic.
The police also recovered Rs 14,65,000/- in cash and other material used to perform black magic from his possession.
Kanhadi Srikanth Reddy, who got scammed by the accused, reported it to the police on January 10. According to Reddy, his mother had been suffering atrocious health problems for over six months. He saw a TV advertisement of Manjunath and approached him in November 2023.
Srikanth, along with his family, went to Warangal to meet the accused and later he also came to their house to perform a pooja, which he claimed was necessary to prevent the household from Nardosham (evil eye). He asked for Rs 2 lakh to perform the ritual.
Since that time, the complaint paid around Rs 14 lakh to the accused on different occasions. Later, when the accused stopped taking his calls, he realised that he had gotten scammed.
During the investigation, Marjunantha admitted that he came up with this idea to earn a hefty amount of money illegally by cheating people in the guise of providing spiritual advice. He published his advertisements including his contact number on local channels like Durga Devi Jyothishyalayam, Sammakka Saralamma Jyothishyalayam, etc.
Police said, a case was registered under IPC sections 406, 420, sections 2(c) and 7 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954, against the accused.
Police further appealed to the public not to engage with or believe such fraudulent faith healers. They also advised people to immediately report such cases at the nearest police stations.
