A man was arrested in the Pune district of Maharashtra for allegedly spying on devotees and recording them through a spy application, forcing them into obscene acts, and blackmailing them. He was also accused of threatening to use the data to coerce them into solicitation, according to an India Today report.
The matter came to light when a 39-year-old man filed a complaint with the police, alleging that the accused, identified as Prasad alias Dada Bhimrao Tamdar, had installed a spy app on his mobile phone. The complainant said the app was used to remotely access private data and intrude into the personal lives of devotees.
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Police stated that the accused used an app called Air Droid Kid, a hidden surveillance tool, to record the movements, conversations, and actions of several devotees. He would lure followers under the pretext of conducting secret healing rituals and spiritual cleansing.
Suspicion arose when some devotees noticed irregularities in their phone settings and became wary of the fake godman’s behaviour. This led to a formal police complaint and an investigation.
During a raid, police seized the accused’s mobile phone, which contained objectionable content and multiple video clips recorded without the followers’ knowledge. Police are currently examining the accused’s other digital devices and cloud storage to determine the full extent of the crime.