Hyderabad: 19-year-old astrologer arrested for fraud

The Rachakonda Cyber Crime Police on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old astrologer for committing fraud and duping an individual from the city, of Rs 13 Lakh.

The team of Cyber Crime Police had apprehended the accused pseudo astrologer Akash Bhargav from his residence in Punjab's Jalandhar, acting on a complaint filed by a resident of Hyderabad's Ramanthapur area.

Bhargav had reportedly cheated the victim to the tune of Rs. 13 Lakh under the pretext of performing special rituals as per astrological predictions.

According to Sudheer Babu, Joint Commissioner, Rachakonda Commissionerate, "On 21 August 2018 the complainant V.Janaki resident of Ramanthapur, reported that her elder son aged about 40 years facing some unpleasant issues both in his office and family life happened to visit one website and contacted the astrologer Akash Bhargav and informed him about his depression. Upon which that astrologer with intention to cash her son's situation started his evil games. First, he asked her son to pay an initial amount of Rs. 2,000/- to perform a Pooja for his wellness. Following his instructions her son slowly went into his spell and paid a huge sum of Rs.12, 97,000/- all together on different dates into different bank accounts. Even after extorting around 13 lakhs he was still pressurising her son to send more amounts for performing special poojas on his name and thus cheated him."

Following the complaint, the Cyber Crime Police initiated an investigation and collected technical evidence leading to the arrest of the accused from Punjab.

Hyderabad police have registered a case under sections 419,420 of IPC and 66C, 66D of Information Technology Act.

The Investigating Officer has recorded Bhargav's confession and seized three mobile phones used in the commission of the offense.

The Cyber Crime Police of Hyderabad in May this year had arrested three accused for creating a fake government website to cheat people seeking jobs.