Fake godman who claimed to be 3rd incarnation of Sai Baba on police radar

RAMANAGARA: A fake godman, who claimed to be the third incarnation of Sai Baba, has now come under the police scanner for cheating gullible devotees to the tune of crores of rupees and fleeing.

Sachin Akaram Sargar, hailing from Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra has duped several devotees to the tune of lakhs of rupees each by promising to rid them of their problems. One of the victims, Sindhu, has now approached the Ramanagara police with a complaint against Sachin.

Sachin, who came to Channapatna about eight months ago, won the confidence of the people by doing pujas and bhajans every morning and evening. He also set up a Sri Prema Swaroopini Sai Seva Trust and received donations worth crores from about 100 people in Channapatna, Bengaluru and Mysuru.

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Sachin had conducted bhajans at Sindhu’s farm house for some days and was insisting that she transfer the property to his trust. The woman did not agree to it and instead filed a complaint with the police.

“Sachin told his devotees that he will remain locked up in a room for a month for penance. When we opened the door, the room was empty. We have arrested Vanyaraj, one of his aides who helped him cheat people. When we checked his bank account, there was less than Rs 1 lakh. According to Vanyaraj, Sachin mostly received donations in cash, totalling about Rs 1.5-1.75 crore. Sachin has associates in other places too. Most of his devotees were from outside Channapatna. We are yet to establish how much they have been cheated of.”

“During preliminary investigation, we found that Sachin had placed online orders for remote-controlled speakers. This is a clear case of cheating”, Ramanagara Superintendent of Police Santhosh Babu said.

On the occasion of Guru Purnima, Sachin organised a special programme for which he had summoned some local devotees who hail from Kolhapur. When some people from Kolhapur, who had participated in bhajans, revealed about Sachin, some devotees from Channapatna went to Kolhapur and found that he was a fake godman. They also found out that he was married and had children.

When he realised that his con had been revealed, Sachin escaped from Channapatna. A case has been registered against him at Channapatna East police station. Also, trustees of Sri Prema Swaroopini Sai Seva Trust, Vinayakraj alias Sairaj, Jayanth, Yashodamma, Umashankar and Prashanth, have been booked.