Black magic: Woman scammed by neighbour after convincing her to do pooja to 'save' husband from imminent death

KOCHI: A woman extorted Rs 2.35 lakh and 5.75 sovereign of gold jewellery from a resident of Palluruthy, after convincing her that she has divine powers. Kochi city police registered a case of fraud and started an investigation on the complaint.

The complainant housewife alleges that she was cheated from January 2020 till recently. She says that the money and jewellery were not returned even though she asked. The 45-year-old neighbour, who allegedly cheated her, says has not taken money or jewellery.

The complainant and the 45-year-old are members of the same Kudumbashree unit. Two years ago, while returning home after the Kudumbashree meeting, the 45-year-old woman told the complainant that her husband would die soon and that she, who has divine powers, could perform pooja and get rid of the curse. She also made her believe that her financial crises will go away and there will be an upturn in the life of her daughter.

Shocked to hear that her husband would die despite living separately, the complainant agreed to do a pooja. Money and ornaments were given several times for performing pooja and other things. Her husband was not aware of this.

The complainant, who is a Christian, gave ornaments including her husband's and daughter's for the pooja. She also took a loan to pay for the pooja. The complainant has not seen any poojas but only the woman saying that they are being performed. The police suspect that she once participated in a pooja. As the problems with her husband did not get resolved and the financial difficulties became more severe, she demanded the return of the jewellery and money, which the neighbour woman refused.

The investigation will be expanded

After the human sacrifice case came to light, black magic scams in different areas of the state came to light one by one. Following this, the housewife directly approached the city police and filed a complaint.

The police say that the neighbour needs to be interrogated in detail. It will be investigated whether they have cheated others similarly and what was done with the gold that the complainant claims to have been handed over. There are also concerns that the lack of evidence of the transfer of cash and gold jewellery will affect the investigation.