A month after it was unearthed that scammers were manipulating the booking system and charging people for darshan at the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, a total of 9 people were arrested in connection to the case, reported Mid Day.
During the investigation, the Dadar police found that a group of flower sellers and shopkeepers who operated outside the temple sold illegal QR codes to devotees for darshan. The temple authorities had filed a complaint with the police, following which a case of registered. The Dadar police then carried out raids at the shops, located in the vicinity of the temple.
The cops confiscated the cell phones of 13 shopkeepers. During the raid, they matched the QR codes that were found in the mobile phones of the accused and matched it with the CCTV footage of the temple. The police had discovered that the shopkeeper who had booked the slot for darshan did not visit the temple while someone else did on the particular slot. As such, the police were able to identify and nab the 9 accused.
The apprehended men include Sanjay Keer, Niraj Barai, Chandan Kawali, Amit Kumar Gupta, Dilip Gupta, Deepak Upadhyay, Dinesh Gupta, Naresh Amganty, and Haridas Tiwari. They were booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 33 (Omission), 34 (common intention), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), and relevant provisions of the Bombay Police Act.
While speaking to Mid Day, a police officer explained that a devotee needs to book an online slot on the temple app for darshan. On doing so, a QR code is generated that he/she has to show at the temple entrance to gain access.
According to DCP Pranaya Ashok, the accused would book the darshan slots before others and then black-market the slots to the devotees who couldn’t manage to get any slot or came without their designated QR codes.“The accused took financial advantage by black marketing QR codes and also cheated the temple trust and devotees for which action has been taken against them,” he added.
The Background of the Siddhivinayak darshan scam
In November this year, a scam was exposed by a Mumbai-based doctor Amit Thadhani. In a Twitter thread, Thadhani explained how scammers were charging people as much as ₹300 for darshan at the temple, which otherwise was free.
Thadhani said he went to the temple with some relatives, where he was approached by a man who was standing outside one of the flower shops. The man told him that the darshan was only possible with prior online booking. He claimed he could get an online pass for them immediately for a fee.
Thadhani did not believe him at first, but when he downloaded the app and logged in with a newly created ID, it showed all slots were booked. The scammer told him that he could arrange darshan at Rs. 300 per person. They were a group of ten people. He further added that he would need five mobile phones to get the “booking” done for them as the app allowed only two people per phone.
He and the other four from the group gave them their mobile phones. The scammer, along with his sidekick, swung into action, and within minutes the booking was confirmed for all of them.
Thadhani had an idea how they were pulling off the scam. To confirm his theory, he kept the login of the person on his device. He added, “These people block all available slots in advance through various fake IDs. So no slots are available for genuine devotees.”
He added screenshots of the fake account in the thread and said, “This is the fake account through which the slot was blocked (obviously the person’s name isn’t really Siddhivinayak). So remember folks, if you’re not getting a slot for darshan at Siddhivinayak, chances are the local touts outside the temple have already blocked all of them.”
