Five cases have been filed against the self-proclaimed godman from Andhra Pradesh (Representational)
A 44-year-old self-proclaimed godman who has taken over Rs 50 lakh from his followers has been arrested in Hyderabad for threatening them when they asked him to return their money, a senior police officer said.
The accused Narasimha Charyulu runs an office called Bhavishyawani at Meerpet in Hyderabad, the officer said. He won the confidence of some women followers on the pretext of solving their problems and started relationships with them, senior police officer M Venkateshwar Rao said.
The police found a replica pistol with Mr Charyulu and a fake identity card that claimed he was with the Central Bureau of Investigation.
"When they (his followers) asked him to return their money, Charyulu threatened the victims with the fake weapon and CBI identity card," the police officer said.
The self-proclaimed godman has offices in Vijayawada, Nellore, Visakhapatnam and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, and has appeared in some television programmes.
Five cases have been filed against the accused, and more people are coming to the police with complaints, he said.
Several self-proclaimed godmen have been in the news recently. While Rajasthan's 'Falahari Baba' has been arrested for allegedly raping a 21-year-old woman at his ashram in Alwar, Haryana's Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two women.