Two 'godmen' dupe Navi Mumbai woman of Rs 1.9 lakh with 'black magic' rituals; held

The Navi Mumbai police have arrested two self-styled godmen from Nashik for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 1.9 lakh under the pretext of performing black magic and other rituals to ward off her troubles, an official said.

The Navi Mumbai police have arrested two self-styled godmen from Nashik for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 1.9 lakh under the pretext of performing ''black magic'' and other rituals to ward off her troubles, an official said. The accused, claiming to be from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, had contacted the 27-year-old woman at Diwale village in Navi Mumbai, convincing her that she was facing grave life troubles and required special pujas and rituals to mitigate them. ''Under the guise of performing 'aghori' practices, they defrauded her of Rs 1.47 lakh in cash and Rs 43,000 via online transfers between September and December 2025,'' Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-II, Belapur), Amit Kale, told reporters on Wednesday. Following a complaint by the woman on April 24, the police launched a probe and traced the accused, identified as Arjun Bharat Chavan alias Tantan Baba (21) and Sagar Shivaji Shinde alias Ekalhari Baba (24), to Ghoti in Nashik district and arrested them, he said. The accused have been booked under sections 318 (4) (cheating) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, the police said.