UP: Self-Proclaimed "Gurus" Sexually Exploit Young Women, Girls As Part Of Ritual For Wealth (image@sambhalpolice)
Sambhal police arrested 14 men as a horrifying wealth scam in Uttar Pradesh came to light. Young women are being exploited in the name of ritual performed for wealth, said media report. Self-proclaimed “guru”, who was handpicked by a powerful gang known as “media”, performs tantric ritual, or ‘kriya’. The objective of the ritual is “dhan varsha” (shower of money) on the person for whom the ritual is being conducted. Young men are also targeted in the scam.
The Sambhal police arrested 14, all of whom are believed to be part of this all part of a well-entrenched and organised syndicate that exploited the women in the name of the ritual. Among the 14, four were the so called “gurus”, including aghubir Singh (45), a railway station master at Yamuna Bridge railway station in Agra; Pappu Lal, Raghvendra Dayal (all three from Agra) and Sonu Singh from Firozabad, reported Times of India.
Other members also include DN Tripathi, again from Agra, who is a property dealer-cum-astrologer; Sanjay Chauhan, an Ayurvedic goods store owner in Agra; and Santosh Singh, a medical store owner from Etah.
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The issue came to light when a young man approached the Dhanari police station of Sambhal with a complaint that his neighbours, Lakhan Singh and Rinku, fraudulently took him to Agra, where he was tied and prepared for “human sacrifice”. Managing to run away from the site, he went straight to the police station. When police arrested the accused, their mobile phones revealed chilling details on the ritual.
Speaking to media, Sambhal’s Additional SP Anukriti Sharma said, “The mobile phones of the accused had hundreds of videos and images — a grotesque catalogue of victims. Young men and women, aged 18 to 22, were videographed holding placards displaying their name, age, height, weight, body measurements and even the date of the last menstrual cycle in case of the women. Alongside them were images of owls, turtles and other trafficked wildlife, indicating sacrifices that were made of the animals”.
The victim women were from different part of the US, including from districts such as Varanasi, Etah, Mathura, Firozabad, among others. According to the investigative agencies, the gang preyed on the poorest of the poor. In their coded language, they referred to the girls as “article” or “samaan” or (object) or “tomato”.
The scammers targeted families with limited income resources, and education. knowing they would be more susceptible to deception. For a woman or girl to be chosen, there are certain criteria set by the syndicate. She must be a virgin, at least 5 feet 5 inches tall, and her body must be free of scars, injuries, or even tattoos. She must have no history of romantic or sexual relationships. The more beautiful her face, the more perfect her body — the greater the promise of wealth. Once a girl was selected, she was subjected to rituals, including sexual exploitation, said the report.
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An Etah-based father told the outlet that they got the ritual done on his daughter three times, but haven’t received any money so far. He appeared in the police station with his 20-year-old daughter, who said she “was made to sit in a room with the ‘guru’ and was given ‘prasad’ and asked to close my eyes. I do not remember anything after that”.
The police are trying to investigate the whereabouts of more of such women who were targeted. If all women returned to home is also part of the investigation.
According to police, the gang established connections through social media, luring victims through false promises. One such videos purportedly shows boxes stuffed with currency notes along with ritualistic material on the ground beside a naked woman whose face is masked with a cloth. The lure was that boxes full of currency notes ‘appear from nowhere’ if the ritual succeeds. Several videos from the arrested showed girls being exploited sexually by the “guru”.
The arrested have been booked under BNS sections 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 140 (1) (kidnapping with intention to murder), 111 (organised crime), 143 (human trafficking), sections of the IT Act and Wildlife Protection Act. Police believe that the “this is just the tip of an iceberg”.
