Fake astrologer from Warangal cheats victim of Rs 14 lakhs; held

Hyderabad: On Friday, the sleuths of the Commissioner’s Task Force, South-East Zone along with the Chatrinaka Police apprehended a fake astrologer who was cheating people and extracting huge sums in the name of astrology/black magic.

The arrested was identified as Sirigiri Manjunatha (38) alias Brammam alias Koya Raju alias Arjun Raju alias Manju, a resident of Warangal, and the police seized Rs 14,65,000 in cash and materials used to perform black magic from him, among other objects.

Accused advertised his number on TV

On January 10, 2024, the police received a complaint from Kandhadi Srikanth Reddy which brought the case to light. According to Srikanth, his mother has been facing chronic health issues for six months. In November 2023, he along with his father saw Manjunath’s name and phone number being displayed on TV during a programme.

They contacted him and travelled to Warangal to meet him. Manjunath came to their house on November 4, 2023, and said that they had Naradosham in their house, which he could dispel and cure the mother by offering pooja. He took Rs 2 lakhs in cash on the same day.

Since then the complainant has paid an amount of rupees Rs 17 lakhs to him and without any response from Manjunath realised that he had been cheated.

He complained to the police and a case was registered under sections 406, 420 IPC and sections 2(C) and 7 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act 1954. Soon, Manjunath was arrested by the police at MGBS in Hyderabad.

During the investigation, it was found that Manjunatha, to wade through his financial problems, hatched a plan to cheat people in the guise of providing spiritual advice. He published his advertisements as Durga Devi Jyothishyalayam and Sammakka Saralamma Jyothishyalayam in local channels with his contact number.

Then he would wait for people to call with their problems and seek his advice in exchange for huge sums of money. He would tell them something along the lines that they are suffering from Naradosham, Pranagandam, etc. and would perform special puja/black magic to help them.

Public appeal

The public is advised not to believe and fall into the trap laid by fraudsters in the name of black magic. Don’t lose your hard-earned money and mental peace. Report such fraudsters to the police at once.