The Bavdhan police in Pune city of Maharashtra have arrested a hypocrite who used to spy on the private lives of devotees and exploit them. The name of this person is Prasad Dada alias Baba alias Prasad Bhimrao Tamdar. This 29-year-old fake Baba has serious allegations of mentally and physically harassing devotees, committing indecent acts with women and keeping an eye on their private moments through a spy app. Prasad Tamdar had set up a monastery in the Swami Samarth building in Susgaon of Mulshi taluka of Pune. He used to call himself a guru with divine powers, due to which a large number of devotees used to come to him. But a complaint exposed his hypocrisy.
A person lodged a complaint at the Bavdhan police station that Prasad tortured him mentally and physically. After investigating this complaint, the police arrested Prasad. The police suspect that more devotees may also file complaints against him in the coming days.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Bapu Bangar said that a case has been registered against Prasad under sections 318(4), 75(1) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 3 of the Maharashtra Exploitation and Inhuman Torture Act, Aghori Practices and Witchcraft Act 2013 and Section 67 of the Indian Technology Act.
Prasad Tamdar is accused of committing indecent acts with devotees, especially women. He forced several women to engage in prostitution, immoral sexual relations and other indecent acts. Some of his videos had gone viral on social media earlier too, in which he was seen bathing with women and doing strange dances. These videos are proof of his wrongdoings.
Social activist Sangeeta Tiwari expressed her anger and said that despite the exploits of hypocrites like Asaram and Ram Rahim coming to light, why do women fall prey to such fake Babas?
How was the Baba caught?
The main reason why Prasad Tamdar’s activities came to light was the spy app he used. Complaints from devotees and viral videos on social media caught the attention of the police. An investigation was started on the complaint of a person, in which it was found that Prasad used to install a special app in the mobiles of devotees, through which he kept an eye on their personal lives. The police collected information about this app and other evidence during the investigation, after which he was arrested.
What was the spy app like?
Cyber forensic expert and Digital Task Force Director Rohan said that Prasad used spy software called ‘Airdroid Kid’ or ‘Airdroid Parental Control’. This app is used by parents in America to keep an eye on their children, but it is being misused in India. After installing this app in the mobile, it remains hidden and its logo is not visible on the screen. This software was installed in two ways. First, Prasad would take the devotees’ mobile in his hand and install the APK (Android) or IPA (iPhone) file in it. This process was completed in just 1-1.5 minutes. Second, remote installation, in which the app was delivered to the mobile through a link or PDF. With this, all the information like camera, photo, location, microphone, contacts and SMS were delivered to Prasad.
According to Rohan, to avoid such apps, it is necessary to install anti-virus software in the mobile. Apart from this, it is also important not to open unknown links or files and not to give the mobile to any unknown person.
