Woman loses gold, learns not to ‘go bananas’ over godmen

CHENNAI: Blind trust on a fake godman cost a city woman her gold bangles worth Rs 1 lakh. The police are now searching for the godman and his aide who conned the woman.

As is her routine, M Bavana (42)of Royapuram was on her way to the Sumathinath Jain temple in Perambur Jamalia as usual last Thursday. Around 11 am, a ‘sagely’ looking elderly man accompanied by a younger man approached her. “The elder man claimed to be a devotee of Mahavir and asked me if I could buy some bananas for him to perform a puja,” Bavana stated in her complaint.

The woman and the younger man went into the supermarket nearby and bought the bananas. The younger man then gave the bananas and his purse to the godman, who uttered a few ‘mantras’ and gave the fruit and the purse to Bavana. He then asked the man to walk for 25 metres ahead without looking sideways and walk back. When he returned, the godman took the purse from Bavana and handed it over to the man.

The godman then told the woman that he would do prayers for the wellbeing of her family, believing which she took off her gold bangles, weighing 20 gm, put it in a bag and gave it to the elderly man.

After the prayers, when she walked for a few meters and returned as instructed as by the godman, both men had vanished. That was when Bhavana realised that she was the victim of an elaborate con. Based on her complaint. Royapuram police registered a case and launched a search for the duo. Police are perusing CCTV footages from the neighbourhood. “The victim had noticed the men on her way to the temple every day and did not suspect that they were fraudsters,” an investigating officer said.