The future of a 32-year-old astrologer looks particularly bleak after he was booked for rape.
Pandit Swamy Shastry alias Anju who runs his business from Pipeline Road, Sreenagar (Hanumanth Nagar police limits), is in the eye of a storm following the alleged rape of a housewife. The mother of two children was residing just a few steps away from his ‘work-station’ at Akka Mahadevi Street.
At around 7.30 pm on Saturday, the victim's husband, a cook, was taken aback to find his wife absent at home. His search for her ended near the astrologer’s ‘shop’ where, according to the woman, she had gone to find a solution for a strange problem -- of late, while cooking, she finds the rice turning red.
The astrologer, after apparently consulting whatever needed to be consulted in such cases, told her that an evil spirit was behind the problem and that he  could fix it for Rs 3,000. And as the woman looked helpless about the payment, the man apparently took ‘full advantage’ of her plight. 
The astrologer, a Lingarajapuram resident, vanished soon after. The police have sent the victim for medical examination and a search is on for the astrologer.