Bengaluru: Fake godmen dupe public with 'money multiplying ritual'

Bengaluru: Halasuru Gate police have arrested 10 people for cheating the public with a "money multiplying ritual" and submitting tampered Rs 2,000 notes to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The accused — Mohan K, Shreenivasa Murthy, Raju, Basavaraj, Munishamappa, Mallikarjun, Ramakrishna, Pally Muralidhar, Ramachandra, and Mubarak — were arrested from different parts of Bengaluru and Andhra Pradesh.

On October 17, the manager of RBI lodged a complaint that Rs 2,000 denomination notes, already withdrawn from circulation, had been altered by changing serial numbers and submitted to the bank.

Police traced the depositor, who had submitted Rs 40,000 in altered notes. During questioning, he said he received the cash from two acquaintances for a commission. Further arrests revealed that the accused had circulated Rs 8 lakh in withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes, transferring the equivalent amount to other accounts.

"They confessed to cheating the public by claiming that performing a special ritual (puja) with Rs 2,000 notes — except those in the ‘O’, ‘OO’, ‘OP’, and ‘OU’ series of 2018 — would multiply their money and bring a ‘rain of cash’. The accused collected withdrawn notes from the public under this pretext,” police said.

Basavaraj, Mallikarjun, and Mohan would pose as holy men conducting rituals near ponds or lakes, while Mubarak helped alter serial numbers and printed years on the notes. Police have seized equipment used for the forgery.

“In total, Rs 18 lakh worth of Rs 2,000 notes were seized. One woman suspect is absconding,” police added.