Ayodhya police bust ₹3.85 crore ‘prasad’ scam carried out during Ram Temple consecration

Ayodhya police uncover ₹3.85 crore cyber scam exploiting devotees with fake Ram Temple prasad website, leading to arrests and refunds.

In an astonishing revelation by the Ayodhya police, a cyber scam worth ₹3.85 crore was unearthed recently, where devotees were manipulated for deception in the name of prasad for Ram Lalla.

The kingpin of the fraud named Ashish Singh, a resident of Ghaziabad exploited the spiritual fervour among devotees since January 22, 2024, through a fake website offering Ram Temple prasad delivered to their doorsteps.

Mr. Singh, launched a fake portal, khadiorganic.com, just weeks before the 2024 consecration ceremony, collecting orders from more than six lakh domestic and international devotees between December 19, 2023, and January 12, 2024, offering free delivery of prasad, commemorative coins, temple replicas and idols of the Ram temple, charging a facilitation fee from Indian and overseas devotees.

Through his website, the accused collected payments via multiple digital gateways, amassing ₹10.49 crore in transactions, with ₹3.85 crore of which was for prasad delivery alone, while the rest came from sales of other items.

The issue was flagged by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust authorities, who noticed suspicious online activity. A police case has been registered under various sections related to cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of items, IT act etc. The accused was arrested when he returned from a foreign trip of the United States.

The Ayodhya Police successfully refunded ₹2.15 crore to 3,72,520 victims, marking the largest such refund in a cyber fraud case in the State.

In recent weeks, the state police intensified efforts to nab cyber fraudsters, with seven interstate accused, who were involved in cyber fraud by creating online IDs through Cricbuzz and Fairplay apps and promising to make customers play games and double their money, have also been arrested in Lucknow.