Mumbai: 75-year-old duped of Rs 45 lakh by 'tantrik', 4 others

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An elderly Dahisar resident was looking to buy a house in Mumbai when he stumbled upon a 'tantrik' in Satara who promised to double his money. Arun Gadgil, 75, went to him with Rs 45 lakh, but returned with bricks and stones.

Shocked, he approached the Dahisar police, who, after a two-month probe, arrested five people, including the 'tantrik', Kailash Nath alias Kailash Baba, 50, Ajit Patil alias Gopal, 33, Ganesh Pilavle alias Pawar, 29, Priya Soni, 39, and Deepak Kotekar, 39.

Kailash Nath, the 'tantrik', Ajit Patil, Deepak Kotekar and Priya Soni

Sources said the accused were arrested from Mumbai, Satara district and other locations on Monday. "We had been tracking their mobile phones and arrested them after intercepting them," said an officer.

The incident took place a couple of months ago when Gadgil and his friend approached Soni, a real estate agent, during his house hunt. Soni took them to Satara for a black magic demonstration. On reaching, they saw people chanting mantras and Kailash performing a magic, wherein he put single notes of Rs 200 and Rs 500 in a pot and later pulled out double notes of each.

A few days later, Gadgil was told about a much bigger demonstration. "The accused told him that they had got Rs 10 lakh from a corporator in Satara and Rs 5 lakh from a woman and needed Rs 25 lakh more to perform the black magic," said the officer.

Gadgil went to Satara on May 24 and Kailash put his cash in a pot and chanted mantras. The 'tantrik' then gave the victim a suitcase, instructing him to open it only after three days or else he would die. When Gadgil finally opened the suitcase, he found bricks and stones. It then hit him that he had been conned, and filed a police complaint.

Under DCP Somnath Gharge's guidance, a team led by Inspector Sanjay Bangar and API Malhar Thorat conducted the probe and caught the accused, who were booked for cheating, said senior inspector Pravin Patil from Dahisar police station.