Karnataka: Priest performing black magic to unearth treasure held

RAMANAGARA: A 40-year-old priest from Tamil Nadu, his aide and four locals from Ramanagara have been arrested under Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017 and other IPC sections after they were caught performing black magic rituals to unearth a hidden treasure inside a house on Tuesday night.
The priest, Shashikumar, had forced a woman to sit naked inside a room, saying it was necessary to unearth the treasure which, he claimed, would automatically be visible after the puja. The woman, a daily-wage worker, and her fouryear-old daughter were rescued from the spot.
The others arrested — the priest’s aide Mohan, masons Lokesh, Nagaraj, Lakshminarasappa and Parthasarathi from Bhoohalli in Channapatna taluk of Ramanagara district— are all in their late 30s.
Police said the arrests were made based on a complaint filed by Srinivas, an agriculturist from Bhoohalli. Srinivas lives with his family in their ancestral house, built over 75 years ago.
“Srinivas met Shashikumar in 2019 when he went to Tamil Nadu for a marriage. Shashikumar visited Srinivas’s house in early 2020 and predicted that there was a hidden treasure. The priest told Srinivas his family would face misfortunes if he did not discover the treasure. Shashikumar promised to do so and took an advance of Rs 20,000 from Srinivas. Due to Covid-19 lockdown and other issues, Shashikumar kept postponing the task. Two months ago, he visited Srinivas again and said they would start the work,” an investigating officer said.
Shashikumar selected a bedroom in Srinivas’s house for his work and announced that the treasure was hidden below the ground. “If I perform the puja with a naked woman sitting before me, the treasure will be visible,” Shashikumar said.
Shashikumar insisted that the woman sitting before him should be from Srinivas’s family. However, they selected the daily-wage worker who was offered around Rs 5,000, sources said.
There were reports that the four-year-old girl had been brought there to be sacrificed. However, Ramanagara SP S Girish dismissed the human sacrifice angle. “Locals alerted police about suspicious activities of the priest and others. The girl is the woman’s daughter,” he said.