RAJKOT: A woman in Junagadh working with a multinational financial data and analytics company was cheated by an astrologer of Rs 6.2 lakh last year.
The victim, Rubina Ansari, an MBA and currently working from her home in Junagadh, lodged a complaint of cheating and under the Information Technology Act at Junagadh range cyber crime police station on Tuesday.
Rubina approached an astrologer named Bandana Bhardwaj in July last year through Instagram after Faheem Ansari, whom she was interested in, had rejected her marriage proposal.
Rubina and Faheem had met each other while working in Ahmedabad in different companies.
Rubina told the police that after contacting Bhardwaj, she shared Faheem’s birth details among other things with her.
Bhardwaj told her that Faheem is under the influence of black magic and to get rid of it some rituals will have to be performed.
For the rituals, Rubina transferred Rs 6.2 lakh in instalments to different bank accounts between July and September last year.
Even after transferring the money, Rubina was asked to shell out more after which she became suspicious.
When she refused to pay more, Bhardwaj threatened her that if the rituals remain incomplete, she will face a bad omen.
Rubina, however, did not transfer the money and approached the police.
“During investigation, we found that the money was transferred to different banks and not just the astrologer, two more persons named Abhishek Sharma and Akash Bhargav are also involved,” said inspector RV Vaja.
He added that they have focused their probe on the mobile phone numbers and bank accounts.