Monday, 14 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Haridwar police have arrested two accused from Bihar for duping people across the country by doing counterfeit booking of patients in the name of providing treatment in Patanjali Yogpeeth. The Haridwar senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh said that Acharya Rajneesh alias Swami Bajrang Dev from Patanjali Yogpeeth registered a complaint on August 2 regarding fake bookings being done in the name of providing treatment in Patanjali for the past few months. He accused unknown people of scamming sick patients and tarnishing the image of Patanjali Yogpeeth across the country. He also reportedly presented documents showing scams done worth Rs two lakh in three cases after which a case was registered against unknown accused in Bahadrabad police station. Singh said that it was revealed during the investigation that the culprits created a fake website in the name of Patanjali from the IP address of London, United Kingdom for making bookings in Patanjali Yogpeeth. They reportedly used international mode of payment to buy the domain of the website. They transferred the money scammed from people via different digital wallets and payment apps by using sim cards of fake IDs. The police found that the location of money withdrawal, calling number and website creation among others were in the United Kingdom and different parts of the country. Singh said that the police team on August 10 arrested two cyber criminals from a fake call centre at a village in the Nawada district of Bihar. The call centre was set up for fraudulent bookings in Patanjali Yogpeeth. The police also had to face heavy resistance from the villagers while arresting both the accused. One accused was identified as Surendra Chaudhary and another accused was found to be a minor so the police handed him over to his family after carrying out required legal proceedings. He said that the WhatsApp chats of the accused and other available documents revealed that the culprits earned Rs 16.3 lakhs in just 15 days through the scam. Surendra had bought two new houses and two cars from these illegal earnings in the last few months, said the SSP. He said that police are investigating the case further to nab other accused as well.
