MEERUT: In the dim, flickering light of oil lamps, amid the rhythmic hum of hollow chants, a young virgin girl from a poor family lay motionless—stripped off her clothes, her dignity, her will. Drugged and unaware, she was reduced to an “article”, a mere object in a perverse and sinister ritual. The videos that have emerged of the ritual are horrifying, and so are the details.
A self-proclaimed “guru” or “kariagar”, handpicked by a powerful gang known as “media”, used to perform the tantric ritual—“kriya”, the objective being “dhan varsha” (shower of money) on the person for whom the ritual was being conducted. However, in its guise, young women were being blatantly exploited.
On Friday, Sambhal police arrested 14 men, all part of a well-entrenched and organised syndicate that exploited women in the name of the ritual. Of the gang members inducted, four are so-called “gurus”, including Raghubir Singh (45), a railway station master at Yamuna Bridge railway station in Agra; Pappu Lal, Raghvendra Dayal (all three from Agra) and Sonu Singh from Firozabad.
Additional SP, Sambhal, Anukriti Sharma, said, “The mobiles of the accused had hundreds of videos and images—a grotesque catalogue of victims. Men and women, aged 18 to 22, were videographed holding placards with their name, age, height, weight, body measurements and even the date of the last menstrual cycle in case of the women. Alongside them were images of owls, turtles and other trafficked wildlife—indicating sacrifices that were made of the animals.”
The women hailed from different districts like Varanasi, Etah, Mathura and Firozabad. According to investigative agencies, the gang targeted families with limited financial resources and education on social media. They referred to the girls as “article”, “samaan” or “tomato”.
For a girl to be chosen, she had to meet specific criteria. She must be a virgin, at least 5 feet 5 inches tall, and her body must be free of scars, injuries or tattoos. She had have no history of romantic or sexual relationships. The more beautiful her face, the more perfect her body, the greater the promise of wealth.
“I got the ritual done on my daughter thrice but haven’t received the money so far,” said an Etah-based man. His daughter narrated her own ordeal, “I was made to sit in a room with the ‘guru’ and was given ‘prasad’ and asked to close my eyes. I do not remember anything after that.”
