The case of cheating a 24-year-old girl from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, of about Rs 18 lakh by showing false dreams of a good future and marriage on social media has created a stir in the entire state. Sri Ganganagar police have arrested three persons in this case – Vasudev Shastri alias Manish Kumar, Ankit alias Rudra Sharma and Pramod Bhargava alias Bittu. The main mastermind of this gang is Naresh alias Narendra Acharya, who is Ankit’s father and is still absconding. According to the police, this gang used to trap people by advertising as Tantrics and Astrologers on social media and cheat them of lakhs of rupees.
A web of lies on social media
Garima Joshi, who is an MBA in Chennai and works in a company, visited Sri Ganganagar in October 2024. During this, she saw Vasudev Shastri’s reel on Instagram, in which he was promising people to solve their problems through puja and tantra education. Garima started talking to Shastri on mobile to get information about her marriage and career. Shastri claimed that he had siddhis and that all the problems would be solved with puja. He took Rs 60,000 from Garima between October 6 and 8, 2024. After this, Shastri started threatening her that if she left the puja midway, someone in the family would die. He also connected Garima to Gautam Shastri, Narendra Acharya and Manish on the phone and told her that they would all sit in different directions and perform puja.
Lakhs of rupees collected through intimidation and threats
According to Garima’s complaint, this gang had collected money from various UPI till February 6, 2025. They duped her of Rs 15.48 lakh through IDs. When Garima did not get any results and asked for the money back, Shastri and his associates used foul language and threatened to destroy her. Garima later came to know that all these were fake astrologers and tantriks, who used to extort money from people by threatening them. She sent a complaint to Sri Ganganagar police through post, after which the police arrested three suspects. The police said that the suspects tried to escape as soon as the complaint was received, but the police caught them.
Why is there a passion for astrologers among Punjabis?
This is not the first time that astrologers and tantriks have robbed people using social media. The magic of astrologers and tantriks speaks volumes among Punjabis. Especially the youth and women get trapped in their false promises. Such advertisements are common in online and diaspora Punjabi newspapers, promising to solve problems related to marriage, career, health and money. The abundance of reels and advertisements on social media has made it even easier. But the question is why does the government not crack down on such fake advertisements? The lack of strict action against such gangs is clearly visible. These cases are increasing due to the lack of any strict policy on such fake advertisements circulating on social media. The boundaries of faith and superstition are so blurred in the Punjabi community that people fall into the hands of such gangs without thinking. The government needs to monitor and strictly investigate such advertisements on social media platforms, so that such incidents can be stopped.
