Five astrologers apply for anticipatory bail

Vadodara: Five astrologers, who were booked for duping the Soni family, have filed for anticipatory bail in the district court. The court has slated a hearing for the bail applications on Friday. The Sama police had recently filed a case of cheating against nine astrologers for cheating the Soni family of Rs 32.85 lakh.

Six members of the family attempted to commit suicide at their home in Sama area on March 3. While three died on the spot, two lost their lives during the treatment. Of the nine accused, Prahladram Joshi, Khinraj Joshi, Hemant Joshi, Alkesh Joshi and Vijay Joshi have filed for anticipatory bail. The police have already formed two teams to track down all the accused.

A team of cops is camping in Rajasthan as all the astrologers have their base in and around Jodhpur. According to the FIR filed at Sama police station, Hemant Joshi had told Narendra Soni that some wealth was buried under the latter’s home. Hemant Joshi had asked Narendra to contact Swaraj (one of the nine accused) for digging out the wealth.

Narendra had contacted these astrologers over the period of last two years and sought help from them as he was facing a financial crisis. The astrologers misguided Narendra by telling him that there is wealth buried under his house in Sama area.

The accused then sent their men to dig up the kitchen floor of the house and pretended to have found urns full of silver. Narendra even paid money to the accused for performing the rituals. The other astrologers too had taken money from Narendra for performing different rituals.

The astrologers then charged lakhs of rupees from Narendra for performing the rituals to help him sell off his house for paying off his debts. Narendra’s son Bhavin had told the cops that they had found a customer for their house and also got Rs 23.50 lakh payment. But their house was already mortgaged and hence they couldn’t sell it.

When the customer sought his money back, the Soni family decided to commit suicide. Narendra bought insecticides and mixed them in the cold drink that was consumed by all the six members including a three-year-old kid.