‘Tantrik’ held for extorting money from Versova woman

The DN Nagar police on Wednesday arrested a ‘tantrik’ for extorting a Versova-based woman and threatening her with black magic if she did not heed his demands for more money.  

The police have identified the accused as Samani Baba, a resident of Mira Road. The police officials say that Sangeeta Shetty, a housewife, had recently lodged a case of dowry harassment against her husband Santosh at Versova police station. Soon after the complaint was filed, Santosh went into hiding. In order to bring her husband out from hiding, Sangeeta approached the ‘tantrik’ on December 26, after seeing his advertisement at a railway station.

According to the police, Samani took Rs52,000 from the complainant for performing a puja. The accused assured Sangeeta that the result of his work would be visible within 24 hours.

Next day, the accused called up the victim and asked for Rs23,000. However, when Sangeeta did not see any result of the puja, she refused to give anymore money. But Samani kept calling her for it. “When the victim refused to pay more, the accused threatened to use black magic against her,” said senior police inspector V Bhoite.   

The victim then approached the police and lodged a complainant against the accused. Samani has been booked for cheating and will be produced in a metropolitan magistrate’s court on Thursday.     

Initially, the police raided the office of the ‘tantrik’ and detained him for questioning. After sustained interrogation, Samani was arrested. The police suspect that the accused has duped other people in a similar manner. They are now trying to trace all those who fell victim to his tricks.