Trimbakeshwar Police have arrested five suspects involved in black-marketing online darshan passes for the famous Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga temple in Nashik district of Maharashtra. Investigations have revealed that the group fraudulently issued 1,648 fake donation passes, and the police estimate that nearly 5,000 devotees may have been cheated so far.
The scam came to light after multiple complaints from pilgrims who were being charged inflated rates for the 200 official donation queue passes. The accused were reportedly selling these passes for anywhere between Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 each using fake names, addresses and identity details to generate online bookings in bulk.
Also Read | Mumbai Cyber Fraud: Senior Citizen Duped of Rs 1 Lakh While Booking Doctor’s Appointment Online.
The Trimbakeshwar Devasthanam offers two types of access for darshan a free queue and a paid queue through donation passes, which is officially priced at Rs 200 per person. These passes can be booked online and are valid at temple-run locations such as Shivprasad Bhakt Niwas, the vehicle parking lot, and Kushavarta Tirth. However, the temple's online system had several vulnerabilities, which the accused managed to exploit for personal gain.
Responding to public complaints, newly-appointed president of the Devasthanam trust and Additional Sessions Trimbakeshwar Police to take strict action. Judge Sachin Bhonsale instructed Under the guidance of Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil, Additional Superintendent of Police Aditya Mirkhelkar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Vasudev Desale, and Police Inspector Mahesh Kulkarni, a police team successfully apprehended the accused.
The police have detained five suspects: Dilip Zhole and Sudam Badade (both from Pegalwadi, Trimbakeshwar), Samadhan Chothe (Rokadwadi, Trimbakeshwar), Shivraj Aher (near Niranjani Akhada, Trimbakeshwar), and Manohar Shevare (Rokadwadi, Trimbakeshwar).
The police recovered mobile phones and email IDs used to generate the fake passes during the search. The accused would register with fictitious identities, obtain large numbers of donation queue passes, and then resell them at inflated rates. 1,648 such passes have been confirmed as fraudulent so far.