Thane, April 4: An offence has been registered against three 'sadhus' (ascetics) from Uttar Pradesh for allegedly cheating a woman from Maharashtra's Thane district of Rs 50,000 on the pretext of driving away evil spirits from her house, police said on Tuesday.

The police on Monday registered a case under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code against the ascetics from Durgaganj in Bhadohi city of Uttar Pradesh, an official said. Online Job Fraud in Maharashtra: Woman Loses Rs 14.3 Lakh to Fraudsters in Cyber Scam.

According to the complainant, the 'sadhus' had visited her home in November last year and claimed that evil spirits were haunting her family because of which they were facing problems. Hackers Stole Data in ‘Network Security’ Breach Says Data Storage Leader Western Digital.

The trio offered to perform some rituals to drive away evil spirits and made her pay Rs 50,000, the official said. The trio became untraceable after that and the woman realised she had been cheated, he said, adding that further probe is underway.