The city police have arrested a 65-year-old man for cheating visually impaired people.
The arrested has been identified as Chandan Banik, a native of Kolkata in West Bengal.
Complainant Sharath H N, a visually impaired person and son of a miracle buster Hulikal Nataraj, told DH that he had learnt via the internet that Banik had asked visually impaired people to come and meet him at a hotel near Magadi Road, promising to get them equipment.
On September 29, around 5.30 pm, he came to meet the accused along with his parents. There were nearly ten people waiting and the accused charged Rs 2,500 each for consultation but did not give any receipt. Further, he promised all of them that he will order equipment from abroad. After some verification, Sharath stumbled upon the truth.
“I inquired with my friends in other states and they said that he had cheated people in Gujarat and other places. Later, we checked the company which manufactures that equipment and found that in India there is no distributor. The particular equipment only helps people who have minor visual problems and it is not meant to help those who are fully impaired,” he said. Later, Sharath alerted Vijayanagar police, who rushed to the spot and arrested Banik following a complaint filed by Sharath.