In a chilling case involving black magic and fraud, Bikaner police have arrested M Shiva, a self-styled tantrik from Telangana, accused of poisoning three men to death during a fake money-doubling ritual in Rajasthan’s Khajuwala area.
The incident took place on June 12 at the home of Ghaffar Khan, where Shiva conducted an occult ceremony, allegedly serving halwa laced with poison as part of the ritual. The victims — Ghaffar Khan, Shaitan Singh, and Vikram Singh — died shortly after consuming the prasad. Ironically, Shaitan and Vikram were reportedly part of the same conspiracy to defraud others using black magic.
The day after the incident, Khan’s family realized they had been duped. They assaulted Shiva, seized Rs50 lakh from him, and expelled him from the house. Bikaner police later traced him to Nizamabad, Telangana, with local assistance and took him into custody.
Two of his associates — Dharmendra from Azamgarh and Jitendra Tiwari from Gorakhpur — were arrested from Uttar Pradesh. The group was reportedly part of a wider scam network that used fake rituals to convince victims they could double their money.
Investigators discovered links between Shiva and other scammers, including Manoj Verma from Jharkhand and Ramswaroop from Jodhpur, who was in contact with Shaitan Singh from Ajmer. The scam had reportedly been planned to defraud individuals of over Rs1 crore.
Three more individuals were arrested: Ramswaroop (Jodhpur), Ghaffar Khan’s son-in-law Mustaq, and nephew Yusuf. Mustaq is in police remand till June 19, while the others were sent to four-day judicial custody.
Authorities believe more individuals may be involved as the investigation continues.
