Hyderabad: Cheating case against godman

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad city police have registered a cheating case against Jai Maha Bharath Party’s founder and national president Bhagwan Shri Anantha Vishnu Deva Prabhu, a self-styled godman, who had been collecting Aadhaar and other details of people, promising them open plots if they register as members of his party. 

Initially police referred complaints against the godman for legal opinion and then registered a case against him. Central Zone DCP M Rajesh Chandra said the case was under investigation.Preliminary inquiries revealed that the party was spreading news that all those who take the party’s membership would be provided open plots. Believing this, hundreds of people from the city, all of them women, thronged the party’s office located near the Ravindra Bharathi in the city.

Followers of the godman collected documents, photographs and phone numbers and issued a receipt to the applicant, collecting `10 from each person. The crowd which was initially sparse, swelled as word of mouth spread and for the past few days, the place had been witnessing serpentine queues.

The Jai Maha Bharath Party claims to be a national party and the godman’s name is displayed as ‘Supreme Court advocate’ on the name board.“Prima facie it was found that he was collecting documents from the public promising them plots. Further efforts are on to gather more details and evidence regarding his claims,” the police said.