Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch on Tuesday night arrested an astrologer for an extortion bid and threatening a 21-year-old woman, said police.
The accused has been identified as Dr Mahavir Singh Rathod, a resident of Charkop in Kandivali. According to the complaint, Rathod gave the victim a gemstone-studded ring. When she failed to pay, he started to threatening her.
Crime branch officials said the victim, a credit card agent, working for a bank, came in contact of Rathod a couple of years ago. When Rathod met her in July, he asked her her date of birth to predict her future by reading her face. Rathod told her she was good at networking, she was talented and wanted to start a new relationship, which had been not happening. According to the victim, since some facts matched her status, she believed him. He told her that her stars were not favouring her, and advised her to wear a gemstone. He suggested a ritual and asked her to wear a ring studded with a gemstone, and demanded Rs50,000.
After performing some rituals, Rathod allegedly gave her the ring and demanded the money. After a few days, the victim gave him a Rs50,000-cheque, which was signed by her mother. The cheque was dishonoured. The victim said Rathod then started to threaten her with dire consequences that if she did not pay him Rs1,28,000 as a penalty, he would get her entire family arrested.
When he continued to harass her even and all her pleas fell on deaf ears, the victim finally approached Charkop police and lodged a case against him and his female colleague under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 385 (extortion), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (by word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman). After the case was registered, Rathod approached the court to get anticipatory bail, which it rejected.
The crime branch unit 11, who took over the investigation, showed the gemstone-studded ring to their valuer, who pegged its value to be around Rs7,000. On Tuesday, the crime branch team received information about Rathod, after which he was arrested from his house in Charkop. On Wednesday, he was produced in a court, which remanded him in police custody till Monday.
