BENGALURU: Social media fraudsters cheated a 59-year-old professor of Rs 5.2 lakh, promising to conduct a special puja in his and his family’s name at Sri Venkateshwara Temple in Tirupati.
The professor, a resident of Seshadripuram, wanted to surprise his wife by taking her to Tirupati for the puja.
According to his wife’s complaint to Central CEN Crime police, the professor found an ad about special pujas at the Tirumala temple on Facebook in Sept. He contacted on 9063516199 provided in the ad. The receiver introduced himself as the chief priest of the Tirumala temple and spoke in Telugu. He talked about ‘Melchat Vastram Seva‘ and said he would help book the slot for him, claiming it was one of the most precious and sacred sevas offered at the temple and there was a lot of demand among devotees for it.
Speaking to TOI, the professor’s wife said, “The fraudster told my husband that the seva includes offering a sari for Ammavaru and a dhoti for Srivaru. He claimed that the sari for Ammavaru is made of gold jari and is made at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The fraudster further said that the devotees who apply for the seva will be selected through a lucky dip. He assured us he would help us get selected in the dip. The fraudster told him that the seva puja would cost us around Rs 2 lakh or above.”
“My husband initially paid Rs 50,000 online to initiate the process. The fraudster claimed that he had finalised things with the temple superintendent and tricked him into paying more money. After fleecing around Rs 2.3 lakh, the fraudster gave us a date for seva in Oct. On the day of our travel, the fraudster informed us that the slot was cancelled due to some reasons but assured us for a slot at the earliest.”
“He then started making his associate speak as the superintendent and they both fleeced another Rs 2.9 lakh on multiple occasions, saying they were fixing the slot on Dec 24,” she said.
A case has been registered under the IT Act and BNS 318 (cheating).