Baba trying to sell magic cure arrested

Man booked under Sec 420 after he and his accomplice tried to extract Rs 2 lakh from a woman to perform an elephant's puja, supposedly to dispel her woes

The Andheri police on Thursday arrested a self-proclaimed baba and his accomplice, who allegedly duped a woman of Rs 22,000 and were about to haul out another Rs 2 lakh from her, when she approached the police.

The arrested accused have been identified as Mohammed Nadeem Abdul Sattar Teli (23), aka Baba Musaji, and Nafis Ahmad Sharif Ahmad (30).

The woman had approached the duo a month ago after she saw a newspaper ad in which they claimed to have a cure-all for sundry problems, cops said. First, they asked her for Rs 22,000 to perform a rite, which was to banish her troubles.
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When no changes materialised in the woman's troubled situation, she approached them again after a few days. This time, they asked for Rs 2 lakh, apparently to perform a puja of an elephant, which was to be the ultimate panacea for her woes.

This made the woman suspicious and she approached the Andheri police on April 7 and lodged a case of fraud against them.

"We have registered a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC against Teli and Ahmad," said Shivajirao Gulabrao Deshmukh, senior inspector of Andheri police station.

"Teli had taken Rs 22,000 from her. He demanded another Rs 2 lakh later. She got suspicious and filed a complaint with us," he added.