Bengaluru man held for cheating woman of Rs 24.7 lakh

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Nov 6, 2025: The Dakshina Kannada police have arrested R. Vasudeva, 32, of Yeshwantapur, Bengaluru, on the charge of cheating a woman of ₹24.72 lakh by assuring her that he would conduct a pooja to ensure her smooth marriage.

In a complaint to the Cyber Crime Police Station in Puttur, the 32-year-old victim, a bank employee hailing from Chikkamagaluru, said that while watching some reels on Instagram, she saw an advertisement of one ‘Sadguru Dr. Shankaracharya’ who operated an account called ‘Shridevisanidhya Peeta’. He claimed to give relief to those who were facing marriage-related problems in just a day. She called the number mentioned, and the receiver answered, claimed he was a priest in Kollur Mookambika temple and Kerala’s Bhagawati temple.

She revealed to him that there was opposition in her family towards her wanting to marry a man she was in love with. The caller then asked her to send money for different ‘poojas’ in both temples. She transferred a total of ₹24.78 lakh over a period of time. When she subsequently asked him to return the money, he asked for an additional ₹12 lakh. When she insisted again, he refused, telling her the poojas were under way. She then filed a cheating complaint against him.

The Cybercrime, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) Police on November 4, Tuesday, arrested Vasudeva. They seized ₹20,300 and four mobile phones from him. He was produced before the jurisdictional court on November 5, Wednesday, and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

This incident follows another one on November 3, when a woman from Puttur filed a complaint with CEN police in Puttur about being cheated of ₹2.88 lakh in a similar way. In this case, the fraudster had taken money for conducting poojas after assuring her that he would address her mother’s health problems.