PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE /Dehradun
A woman has accused a temple priest of duping her of about 65 tolas of gold jewellery by exploiting her fear of black magic and superstition. She filed a complaint at Selaqui police station on Wednesday, following which the police registered an FIR and launched an investigation into the matter.
A police officer related to the matter said that the accused may have duped several other people as well. “We have received more complaints alleging that the accused cheated them in a similar manner,” the officer said.
According to the complaint, Selaqui resident Oshin Gurung received a phone call from Mahant Rahul Thapa, a priest of a Vaishno Mata temple, on March 2. The priest allegedly told her that someone had performed black magic on her house. Following his instructions, she searched around her home and found a black cloth bundle containing items such as black gram, cloves, vermilion and a piece of lemon. Thapa then advised the family to perform a special religious ritual to remove the negative effects. Later that evening, he visited the house and allegedly asked for details about the family’s assets. During the ritual, he instructed the family to place all their gold jewellery in a red cloth bundle. The victim claimed that the bundle contained around 65 tolas of gold jewellery, including mangalsutras belonging to her and her mother.
The accused allegedly told the family that the jewellery would be protected by divine powers and asked them to keep the bundle inside a locked trunk. He instructed them not to open the trunk for 62 days, claiming that the ritual would be disturbed if they did so. When the family finally opened the trunk on May 28 after becoming suspicious, they found that all the gold jewellery was missing. Instead, the bundle contained about half a kilogramme of rice and three dried coconuts. The entire process was recorded on video.
The Dehradun senior superintendent of police Pramendra Dobal said that a case has been registered against Thapa and an investigation is underway. “We have formed teams to arrest the accused,” he said.
