A godman has been arrested by Bavdhan police for secretly installing a spy app on devotees’ mobile phones to gain access and record their private moments. He manipulated young devotees by instilling fear of impending death and persuaded them to engage in physical relationships with prostitutes or girlfriends, all while covertly filming their activities using their phone cameras. The scam was uncovered with the help of a devotee’s friend, who is a cyber expert. The arrested man is Prasad alias Dada Bhimrao Tamdar (29), resident of Susgaon, Mulshi. A 39-year-old devotee filed a complaint at Bavdhan Police Station. Tamdar has been remanded to police custody until July 2.
According to police, the accused was running his business in the Bavdhan area under the pretext of faith and superstition. Claiming to have attained divine powers, he mentally weakened devotees by telling them, “Your death is certain within four to five months.” Then, under the pretext of chanting mantras, he would sit them in isolated places, take their phones, ask for the password, and secretly install a hidden app called ‘AirDroid Kid’ on their devices. This app worked in the background and gave the godman direct control over the devotees’ cameras, audio, and location. Using this app, the godman would call devotees and tell them what clothes they were wearing, where they were, and what they had done throughout the day, further strengthening their trust in him.
The most serious aspect of the case is that when some young devotees asked how to escape death, the godman advised them to establish physical relations with a girlfriend or a prostitute. Uniquely, he would instruct them to keep the phone with navigation (GPS) on at a specific angle during these encounters. Through the mobile camera, he watched and recorded their intimate moments. The fraud was revealed when one young devotee’s phone started overheating. He gave it to a friend who works in the IT field to check. The friend found a suspicious hidden app on the phone and discovered it was being remotely operated. The devotee realized that only the godman had handled his phone. Upon contacting other devotees, they found the same app on their phones as well. Once they confirmed the deception, the devotees confronted the godman.
Frightened, he begged them not to file a complaint. However, one young devotee called emergency helpline Dial 112 and informed the police. The police then arrested the godman. Many devotees told the police they had also been subjected to similar manipulation. Meanwhile, with the help of cyber experts, the police examined the godman’s phone and the app carefully. The allegations made by the devotees were found to be true. A case has been registered, and a digital forensic investigation is ongoing to find out where the recordings were stored.