Three 'tantriks' arrested for duping people

Three men who posed as tantriks were arrested in the national capital for duping over 150 people on the pretext of solving their problems, police said Thursday.

Fahimuddin, 28, Irfan, 27, and Rashid, 24, were arrested Tuesday from near west Delhi's Pitampura metro station where they had collected to execute their next plan.

"The tantriks, two of whom used the name Baba Ali Shah and Kabirji, have duped over 150 people who had fallen on bad times and cheated them of cash and jewellery," Additional Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said.

"The accused revealed that they had recently divested three women of Rs.22,000 and 50 gm of gold each on the pretext of resolving some issues they were facing," Yadav said.

The officer said the women had lodged complaints at West Delhi's Shahabad Dairy Police station Nov 4 when they realised that they had been duped.

The "tantriks" disclosed that they had sold the gold ornaments to a goldsmith in Galouti, Uttar Pradesh.

The men also said one Haji Baba, a resident of Khoda in Uttar Pradesh, was their leader and he provided them the necessary accommodation and logistics to pose as tantriks and dupe people.

Irfan and Rashid said they had also worked with people in Gurgaon, Haryana and defrauded some persons there.

Fahimuddin had been arrested earlier too for a similar crime.