Godman held for abusing teen girl in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A 52-year-old ' godman' was arrested on Friday for allegedly misbehaving with an 18-year-old woman on the pretext of healing her. The accused also allegedly cheated her with a false promise of marrying her.
Police are verifying the allegations of bigamy against the accused, Ghulam Nakshband Hafeez Pasha. A resident of Saleem Nagar in Malakpet, Pasha is a native of AP's Nellore where manages a worship place there.
On February 12, the 18-year-old lodged a complaint with police. She suffered from severe illness three years ago and on the advice of well-wishers, her family took her to the worship place of Pasha in Nellore.
Pasha prayed for her health and on the request of her family, came to her house in Langar Houz to perform prayers. "On the pretext of performing prayers, he inappropriately touched the complainant who was a minor at that time," police said.
When the girl complained to her family, Pasha tried to put the blame on her saying that she was mentally unwell. Subsequently, the family fixed CCTV camera in their house and called Pasha to perform the prayers again for the well-being of the girl.
"The accused again misbehaved with the girl and this time showing the CCTV visuals, the family confronted him. He agreed to marry the girl after she turned major and the marriage date was fixed on March 10. But, he again tried to avoid the marriage and the woman lodged a complaint. We also came to know that in the past he had married twice," Langar Houz inspector K Srinivas said. Police arrested the accused on Friday under sections 419, 420, 354(A) of the IPC and the Pocso Act. He was sent to judicial remand.