Mangaluru: It was certainly not the day of the astrologer as Pandit Krishna Sharma found out! Or was it Pandit Vidya Shankar as the pamphlet said! Or are both pseudonyms to cheat the gullible? These are the questions to the Pandeshwar Police who have now arrested a person under sections for cheating, impersonation and various other acts pertaining to medical practice. The story narrated by Narendra Nayak, Mangaluru based superstition buster appears too much deeper than what is seems to be.
“On the 3rd of January, I had received a pamphlet inserted into my daily newspaper purportedly by a Pandit Vidya Shankar who claimed to be South India’s most popular and highly experience(sic) mantrik astrologer. He promised cure for sexual diseases, sterility, to ‘soften’ enemies, collect outstanding amounts and a variety of such. In fact the said pamphlet appears to be a very panacea for all problems that human beings can ever face in their lives!
Intrigued by these, I called the number and the voice at the other end said that he was in Udupi but was coming to Mangalore on 8th of January. When searched on true caller it was an Airtel number registered in the name of Mo Dullicpp which obviously appears to be a false name. He said that he would call me when he came to Mangalore. When I kept on asking him as to when he would come he said he was coming on 5th January and would inform me when he should come.
So, to set up a sting for him, I asked Pramila a DYFI activist to pose as my daughter and she was into the loop. After a number of calls during which he said he was busy with a puja and a variety of such alibis he gave us an appointment in the evening and asked us to come as 4pm. So, we went there as a father-daughter duo, the daughter being married for eight years and sent home as she could not conceive. When we met the south India famous mantrik astrologer in his office at Attavar it turned out that it was not he who was in the office but another one of the famous one’s of South India- Pandit Sri Ramakrishna Sharma- so to us it was very clear that there is more than one such.
However, this man assured us that he could solve our problems and started taking my ‘daughter’s case history promising her quick results. He also claimed to have a mantra for sterility. He also promised to perform pujas for the same purpose. It was obvious that he had absolutely no ‘powers’ of any sort because he could not find out that we both were lying through our teeth and the whole thing was being recorded! He also demanded a sum of Rs.11,300 and asked for an advance. I told him that I had only a Rs 2000 note but would like to ask my wife before handing over and went out to call the police! The I entered his room and my ‘daughter’ was made to hand the note over to him by placing it under the photos of the myriad of gods placed by his side.
Then it was time for the revelation we told him that he was a fool and a cheat. “It was obvious that he was one because when I had told him that my name was Narendra he asked whether it was Narendra Nayak , I said it was not Nayak but Poojary and he apparently believed it! The police have arrested him for various sections of the law for impersonation and cheating,” Nayak said.
But how about the larger ramifications of this racket? There seems to be a gang of thugs operating this way. In fact, in the office of the arrested man there were two persons sitting outside keeping a watch over the proceedings while there was a third one keeping a lookout for any raids. The tragedy of the whole issue is that there were two women inside when we went for consultation and when ours was doing on there were two others waiting outside who disappeared when the police came in. It was clear that he had cheated the apparently mother- daughter duo who had gone before us of Rs.8000 as there was a chit to that amount. There was another such duo sitting outside to consult him after us but ran away when the police came in! When we exposed him he was trying to frantically call some one telling them in Marathi to come quickly and arrange for a lawyer too.
On the next day when we went to the building where he was running the racket and spoke to the people there. We were told that early in the morning a gang of four people had come to take care of his bail and other things. We came to know that he is in rented premises which was given actually for residential use which he converted into his place of business in which he was cheating the gullible, particularly women who had problems.He would tell them that the problems would be solved and collect amounts from them.
We met a lady from a village nearby who had paid him Rs.30,000 for solving her problems but when we told her to complain to police about it she was hesitant, probably because she had paid the amount without the knowledge of her family. The lout had not spared the woman who was sweeping the building. It seems that her husband had deserted her and he had collected Rs.50,000 for her saying that he will reunite them. From enquiries we made it was clear that it was women whom he was exploiting. We were also told that his modus operandi was to collect their horoscope and blackmail them into paying for getting it back! The neighbours were very angry at the cheating this man and his gang was doing and told us that hey tried to warn those who were going to him. But, they also said that he and his gang of thugs would keep a close watch on all people who came to them- they would not be allowed to speak to others around! The land lord of the rented premises where he was conducting his business told us that he would evict him immediately.
It is up to the Mangalore Police to lodge further investigations into this and expose the whole racket involving gangs, a set up to dupe gullible customers and to hide their tracks by using a number of cell phones. We do hope that the gullible public will become aware these rackets too. But, as the famous showman P.T.Barnum said there is a sucker born every minute and we have our share of wolves waiting for such! There should be a law to curb such unscrupulous people who exploit gullible believers.”
24 year old complains about sexual abuse
Following the arrest of the fake astrologer, a woman from Mangaluru said that the solutions that Ramakrishna Sharma had provided, did not rid her off any of her problems. Twenty four year old Anitha (name changed) said that she had a lot of problems with her family life as her parents had separated and she did not have a job, that is when she turned to this astrologer as a ray of hope.
Anitha, A BCA graduate said that Ramakrishna had asked her to pay him Rs. 15,000 so that he could perform poojas in her name and remove the bad omen from her life. He accepted the Rs. 8000 contribution that Anitha made when she said she didn’t have the whole amount and she would pay the rest of the money when her bad times are gone. “I had not noticed any change in the past one and half months, so I went back to him and asked for a refund. But he said that my father’s family members had put a black magic curse on me and then asked for more money. I refused to give him any money at all”, he said.
“I finally lost it when he said that the only solution to my ‘bad times’ is to sleep with a Brahmin. That is when I knew he had no powers and he is only a phony. When I decided to finally seek refund from him on January 7, people told me that Sharma’s office was locked away by police and asked me to call Prof. Narendra Nayak”, she said.
“After Anitha spoke about her sequence of events and get herself cured by a Brahmin, we took up the case with priority and pressed legal action against the astrologer. New cases have been registered against Sharma and two members of Janvadi Mahila Sanghatane are helping Anitha to beget justice”, Prof. Narendra Nayak said.
Speaking about the heinous act made in December by the fake astrologer’s fake Guruji, Anitha said that the ‘Guruji’ came from Kerala. “He wept when he heard my story and said that I was like his daughter. Soon after, he took out some incense sticks and an earthen pot and said he had to sprinkle some ash on my navel. Without hesitation he asked me to lift up my clothes, and when I refused, he tried lifting it himself. I escaped from his clutches and ran away from the place”, Anitha said while describing her visit to the Guruji’s office in December 2016.
Speaking to News Karnataka about the present situation of the astrologer, Prof. Narendra Nayak said that Sharma is out on bail for the first offence and is absconding. “He had two cases on his head. The 1st one being cheating and 2nd being harassment of a lady. Of course, he is out on bail for the first case, but he is surely going to have a hard time coming out of the second case”, he added.
“Adequate steps must be taken by people and police in making his arrest on grounds of the second case”, Prof. Nayak concluded.
