BENGALURU: A godman who is known to be a fraudster, allegedly cheated popular smallscreen actor director and producer Ravikiran to the tune of lakhs of rupees. Ravikiran, who lives in Kumaraswamy Layout, met Naveen Bhagyashree Guruji two years ago. The godman, who runs an orphanage, asked Ravikiran to help and the latter transferred Rs 2,000 through Google Pay as a donation.
Naveen Bhagyashree Guruji has been close to actor Ravikiran since then. He recently asked Ravikiran to attend an event in Dubai as chief guest and promised that all arrangements will be made. Believing the godman, Ravikiran who initially paid Rs 25,000 for an air ticket and later on sent more money towards travel expenses.
The godman then began taking more money from Ravikiran in the name of site, property and gold. The godman convinced Ravkiran that he has a friend in Dubai and that he would get him gold at a very low price, and took Rs 42,000, Rs 87,000 again. At the same time, Guruji gave a fake promise that a site would be given near Hoskote in the Bengaluru Rural area for the money that he had taken. He asked the actor to pay more money for the registration and took more money again.
The actor then gave Rs 4,35,000 to the godman who said that he would give him a site on Airport Road. When Ravikiran did not find the site, he realized he had been defrauded. Ravikiran lodged an FIR against Naveen Bhagyashree, his wife Chaitra and a middleman at Kumaraswamy Layout Police Station.