Mumbai techie seeks assist from astrology app to fix life, loses over Rs 12 lakh | India Information – The Instances of India

NEW DELHI: A Mumbai-based techie turned to “astrology” in a bid to fix his life, unaware the one factor that was to align for him weren’t stars however a well-planned rip-off.
The worth paid for astrology piled as much as an astronomical extent for the BKC man after he downloaded the DevineTalk utility to discover a repair to his issues.
After putting in the app, the person related with a “religious information” named Nishant in January. Nishant instructed that performing a ritual for Rs 6,300 might cleanse his lifetime of negativity, police informed information company PTI.
The software program engineer, after per week of rumination, determined to go forward with the ponzi prophecy.
He reached out to Nishant, who assured him {that a} “Bade Maharaj” would personally conduct the sacred ‘kriya‘ to heal his destiny.
“Nishant facilitated the dialog between the software program engineer and Bade Maharaj by a convention name,” based on the FIR. Later, what adopted makes a basic case of religious extortion.
Bade Maharaj demanded Rs 15,300 to start the ritual and later added one other Rs 28,000 underneath totally different causes. Trusting their phrases, the sufferer made the funds electronically, police confirmed.
When the techie requested for proof that the rituals had been carried out, the fraudsters turned up the strain.
“When the sufferer demanded proof that rituals have been carried out by Bade Maharaj, the latter referred to as up within the evening and demanded a further Rs 20,000, saying some rituals are incomplete,” police mentioned.
The software program engineer, skeptical however scared, hesitated. That’s when the concern techniques escalated.
Bade Maharaj informed him that incomplete rituals might hurt his life. With panic creeping in, the sufferer discovered himself tangled deeper within the rip-off.
Nishant reconnected him with Bade Maharaj, and by this time, he had transferred Rs 2.41 lakh. However the fraudsters weren’t accomplished but.
The psychological strain intensified—warnings of impending doom if the rituals weren’t accomplished pushed the sufferer into monetary freefall.
He maxed out his bank cards, borrowed from personal lenders, and continued paying, determined to “repair” his cosmic misfortune. Over six days in January, the techie had drained Rs 12.20 lakh into the rip-off. The fraudsters nonetheless weren’t glad.
It wasn’t till he confided in his associates that he realised he had been performed.
Urged to research, he reached out to the client assist of DevineTalk, the place a lady reassured him that the rituals could be accomplished—and as a gesture of goodwill, she even provided him three free meditation periods.
Skeptical, the techie checked on-line opinions of DevineTalk and found he wasn’t alone—a number of customers had flagged the app for fraudulent actions.
On Monday, the techie lodged a proper criticism with the cyber police, resulting in an FIR underneath numerous sections of the BNS and the Info Know-how Act (ITA).