Ujjain: 7 held for issuing fake bhasma aarti passes

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): The Mahakal police arrested seven accused who fraudulently took money by issuing fake passes for Bhasma aarti in Mahakaleshwar temple. 6 mobiles, 1 laptop, 1 CPU and cash have been seized from them. ASP Abhishesh Anand on Tuesday told media persons that on April 16, a written complaint was submitted by applicants from the office of Mahakaleshwar Temple Management Committee, in which recovery of Rs 4,500 for issuing bhasma aarti passes was made from three Delhi-based visitors namely Nitin Bhardwaj, Mohit Arora and Dishant Gaira. When the victim devotees reached the temple after taking bhasma aarti passes, it was found to be fake. A case under Section 420, 34 of the IPC was registered.

Accused Pawan Sharma, Mrityunjay Pande, Shekhar Tiwari, Gaurav Sharma, Vishal Sharma, Vipin Makwana and Harsh Gharia who issued bhasma aarti passes to the devotees were taken into custody and heavily interrogated. During investigation, Section 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC were added to the case on the basis of evidence.

The accused used to take Rs 1000-1500 per person for booking bhasma aarti and provide a copy of Aadhaar card to the employee at the Bhasma aarti entry gate. The accused used to give information about old bhasma aarti receipt and the visitor’s name to his co-accused, who after editing the old permission through computer, created a fake pass and gave it back to the employee who oversees bhasma aarti entry and who allows the visitor to enter for bhasma aarti darshan. He used to get the entry done from the gate. Later, the accused used to distribute the share of money among others. Cash amounting to Rs 1.29 lakh has been recovered from the accused.