THANE: A 28-year-old self-styled godman has been arrested for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 32 lakh to "drive away evil spirits", in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Thursday.
The police apprehended Baban Baburao Patil from Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra last week, he said.
The accused has been booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC and The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, said the official from Ramnagar police station in Dombivli.
The complainant, who is a resident of Kalwa, has alleged that the accused had promised to drive away evil spirits in her family and had demanded money from her from time to time since December 2019, he said. Patil had taken Rs 31.60 lakh and some expensive objects from her during this period and did nothing to resolve her problems, the official said. The accused was presented before a local magistrate who remanded him to police custody for two days, he added.
