Fake godman arrested for duping childless couple in Odisha

Chinmayee Dash Published On : Feb 20, 2023 at 4:21 PM Updated On : Feb 20, 2023 at 4:29 PM

Cuttack: Commissionerate Police arrested a fake godman for allegedly duping a childless couple of nearly Rs 4 lakh on pretext of blessing them with an offspring.

The accused has been identified as Siddheswar Samantray, a resident of Dharmasala in Jajpur district.

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The Badambadi Police managed to apprehend the fake godman following a complaint lodged by the victim Sangram Das in Cuttack.

According to reports, failed to conceive, the couple Sangram Das and Subhashree Subhasmita Nayak had approached the fake baba with a hope for having their own baby.

However, the fake godman, who claimed to have his Ashram in multiple locations in Odisha at Soro, Balasore and Keonjhar and outside the state in Himachal Pradesh, duped the couple of total Rs 3.90 lakh promising them of ‘miracle’ in their life.

“We faced some complications in conceiving a baby after a few years of marriage. Unable to conceive, we underwent various medical treatments, which yielded no results. After failed attempts, we started believing in rituals and worships for child. Then, we came in contact with Siddheswar Samantray, whom my friend had introduced me earlier. The fake godman made us believe that we will have our own child after getting indulged in some sort of religious practice. He started taking money from us on pretext of performing some rituals at home and providing us herbal medicines that can work like a wonder. He received total Rs 3.90 lakh in a year for this,” said Sangram.

“He used to ask for money for providing us expensive herbal medicines. We found no development, rather we fell sick after intake of those herbal medicines. When we started complaining, he tried to scare us by claiming himself as a powerful sorcerer. We started investigating into his profile personally and found him a fake godman,” he told reporters.

He alleged that many people have fallen prey to the fake godman. Several cases have been lodged against the accused in different police stations under Commissionerate Police.