Couple dupes 60 priests, gives fake notes after puja for 'treasure'

A couple was arrested for duping 60 priests who performed puja for 14 days to find hidden treasure in the premises of a local ashram in Lucknow's Sitapur on Friday. The couple - Geeta Pathak and her husband Gulasi Ram Pathak had collected donation from the villagers to perform the puja.

According to a report in Times of India, the matter came to light after one of the priests filed a complaint against the couple who had invited with the group to perform the marathon puja at Geeta's ashram in Sitapur.

After finishing the rituals, Geeta handed a sealed cotton bag to the priests saying it contains donated money and requested them to open it later. When the priests opened the bag later, they found that most of the notes in it are fake.

During the investigation, the police found out that the couple has duped priests and villagers in the same manner in other villages also. According to the police, their modus operandi was to collect money from villagers in the form of donations to perform marathon pujas to find hidden treasures. After the puja, they would hand over fake notes as payment.

The police said that the couple has been doing the fraud from their ashram since 2013 with three aides and Geeta is the mastermind. The police added that the couple has been booked under the Gangster Act and teams have been formed to arrest their aides. The police also said that a probe will be done into the properties of the ashram that is owned by the couple.

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