Two conmen allegedly duped a 75-year-old Bengaluru businessman of Rs 45 lakh after promising the latter a special darshan of the presiding deity at the Tirupati temple. The septuagenarian, Madhava Rao G, a resident of Hanumanth Nagar, was also promised the clothes draped on the idol.
When realised of the trickery, Rao lodged a complaint with the Hanumantha Nagar police against the two men.
Tirupati darshan tricks the man
The accused, identified as Raghuram M G and his friend Sheshadri, are residents of Mysuru. According to Rao's complaint to the police, he and his wife had gone to Tirupati in 2018 when and where he met Raghunath, who claimed to have high contacts with the staff at the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD) office.
He also offered Rao a pass for special darshan and a VIP entry for the lifetime.
Believing his authenticity, Rao paid Raghunath Rs 45 lakh on several occasions towards the fee for the passes for him as well as his relatives for the hassle-free entry to the richest temple in the world.
He also said that Raghunath has told him on the submission of his applications for the special darshan and that the TTD staff was processing them.
Raghunath's associate Sheshadri from Tirupati also called Rao to confirm that the applications were being processed and promised to get the date of the darshan soon.
During his last year's visit to Tirupathi, Rao was called by Sheshadri who asked him to collect silk cloths of god along with the prasadam from Raghunath.
In addition to this, the latter also gave him a bag made of deerskin which was seized by the civil vigilance officers at the TTD checkpoint as Rao returned from the temple.
As a measure to close this case, Raghunath started to ask for more money from Rao to bribe the officials. Getting suspicious on this, Rao filed a complaint against the duo in the Hanumanth Nagar police station.
The investigations against the duo are underway.
