He conned godmen, gave away money to poor

A 39-year-old engineer, who allegedly duped some ashrams in Tamil Nadu to the tune of a few lakhs of rupees has been arrested, said the police.

R Prakash, hailing from Madurai, decided to con ashrams and self-styled godmen after he lost nearly Rs two lakh to a self-styled godman a few years ago, they said.

Prakash had sent e-mails to nearly 100 ashrams, offering to provide vehicles to the institutions if the ashram authorities could pay him sums ranging between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000, that could be spent on road tax and insurance.

The accused informed the ashram authorities that he will use the amount to pay road tax and insurance of the vehicles, said the police. Some of them responded and paid him the amount through a bank account he had created for this purpose, said the police, adding that he had earned nearly Rs six lakh in the process.

His crime came to light when one of the ashrams became suspicious and lodged a complaint with the police. Prakash was arrested from West Godavarai district in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, said the police.

However, investigations revealed that he had spent the money helping the poor for their education and medical needs, they said. In fact, when Prakash realised that one of his victims, an NGO, was indeed into community service, he returned the money.