The Udaipur Police have arrested a self-styled godman on Thursday, 21 September, on charges of duping and cheating people and extorting money from them. The accused was identified as Surender Saini, a resident of Didwana, Nagore district of Rajasthan.

As per Police, Saini was residing in Udaipur from some time and was claiming to solve problems related to marriage, money and childlessness using super  natural powers.

In his statement to the media, Deputy SP Chandmal Sangaria said, "We received a complaint in this regard from Kishan Suthar, a resident of Badi village in Udaipur on 20 September, following which the police swung into action. In his report Kishen said that he was facing problems related to his job for the last few months and was also having some health issues. Someone told him about the accused godman Surrender Saini. Kishen invited Saini to his home. Saini arrived at Kishen's house in a luxury car and organised a prayer ritual. He took Rs .28 lakh from Kishen, claiming that he would solve his problems. Kishen mentioned in his report  that time passed by and there was no change in his condition and the  problems continued."

As per Sangaria, when the Police began their investigations, someone from the village pointed the finger of suspicion towards Saini.  The Police team from Badgaon, led by Station House Officer (SHO) Puran Singh Rajpurohit raided the residence of Saini after an initial investigaton and recce. The police added that Saini tried to escape in his car, but the Police team caught up with him after a pursuit of a few kilometers and arrested him. His car has been seized and he has been booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

During the initial investigations it was found that the accused Surender Saini is a notorious criminal and had several cases registered against him across Rajasthan and other states too, for cheating people by posing as a Godman, Sangaria added.

Talking about his modus operandi, Sangaria said that the accused hails from Nagore district and used to frequent different towns across Rajasthan and dupe people under the guise of a godman on the pretext of solving their problems using supernatural powers. The police is now interrogating him further about the number of people targeted by him earlier at Udaipur and nearby areas and also about the total amount of money taken from his victims.