A Hyderabad businessman who conducted a pooja in his house with the intention of ridding himself and his family of medical and financial troubles, was instead robbed of over a crore in cash.
According to the police, Madhusudhan Reddy, a businessman who owns the Lifestyle Shopping Complex in Begumpet, invited a “baba” to his house to perform a “rice-pulling pooja”, based on a recommendation by his son, Sandesh Reddy.
For the ritual, the family were asked to bring out all their assets so that they could be blessed. The baba conducted the ritual on Wednesday, offering a prasad to Madhusudhan, his wife and his son.
Immediately after the family consumed the prasad, they fainted.
The baba, along with his driver, then allegedly fled from the house with cash worth Rs 1.3 crore.
According to a person close to the household, at around 6 pm the domestic help and the driver employed by Madhusudhan became suspicious and entered the house to find all three members of the family lying unconscious.
They immediately took them to Apollo Hospital in Banjara hills. Madhusudhan’s relatives later informed police about the incident.
The police say that the baba in question has a prior record, having already robbed a family in Alipiri, Tirupati of Rs 2 lakh.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)