Kolkata: The Kolkata Police have arrested 11 fake 'tantriks' from various places in the city who allegedly robbed gold jewellery from women in the name of religion and God.
Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, a senior officer of the detective department said, a group of men posing as 'tantriks' would enter a house when women were alone. They would leave after scaring off the women by fabricating stories about some curse that was fallen on that house. Some moments later, another group of 'tantriks' would visit the same house claiming to possess magical powers that can remove all curse.
The second group would easily take the women into confidence by talking to them sweetly. The women would automatically ask them about the solution for freeing them of the curse. Then, they would tell them to bring their jewellery for purification.
They would chant mantras and ask the women to look away while the rituals were being held. When the women turned their backs leaving the jewellery behind, the 'tantriks' would run away with the gold on bikes that would be kept outside the house from beforehand. By the time the women realised, all the jewellery had already been taken away.
"We got complaints of jewellery being robbed from women for several months from various police stations namely Tangra, Tapsia, Kankurgachi and Phulbagan. The detective department of the Kolkata Police initiated an investigation and the modus operandi was almost the same in all cases," the officer said.
Police were searching the accused when a similar incident took place at a residence in Tangra. The fake 'tantriks' were identified from the CCTV footage of the area and searches were conducted across the city in Kankurgachi, Sealdah and Tangra. Till now, 11 people have been arrested, police said.
The accused are residents of Uttarakhand who had come to Kolkata for the purpose of duping people. The bikes they used had West Bengal registration number and police are investigating whether the numbers are genuine or fake. Also, probe is on to find whether anyone else is involved with them.
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