A 75-year-old businessman allegedly lost Rs 45 lakh to two conmen, who promised him to get a special VIP darshan for the lifetime at Tirupati temple.
When victim Madhava Rao G, a resident of Hanumantha Nagar, visited Tirupati in 2018, he met Raghunath, who said he has high contacts with the staff at the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam office. He also offered Rao a pass for special darshan and a VIP entry for the lifetime.
Believing his claims, Rao paid him Rs 45 lakh on several occasions towards the fee for the passes for him and his relatives, Rao stated in his police complaint.
Raghunath told Rao that applications for special darshan were submitted and that the TTD staff was processing them. Raghunath’s associate Sheshadri from Tirupati also called Rao to confirm that the applications were being processed and promised to get the date of the darshan soon.
During Rao’s visit to Tirupati last year, Sheshadri called Rao and told him to collect silk cloths of god Balaji and prasadam from Raghunath. When Raghunath met Rao, he also gave him a bag made of deerskin along with cloths and parsadam.
However, when Rao was returning, officials of civil vigilance checked the vehicle at the TTD checkpoint and seized the bag and car.
When Rao contacted Raghunath, he asked them to leave the place as he had given Rao’s name and address and that would create problems for him.
When Rao returned to Bengaluru, Raghunath started asking more money from him to bribe the officials. It was then Rao decided to file a complaint. Now, the Hanumantha Nagar police are on the lookout for the men.
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