Astrologer cheats grocer of Rs 73 lakh assuring stock market profit in Nashik

Nashik: An astrologer, originally from Amravati and settled in Nashik for the past 8 years, allegedly cheated a grocer of Rs 73 lakh after assuring him a huge profit in the stock market.The grocer registered a complaint with the police on Tuesday. He said he had made payments to the astrologer since April 2025.Based on the complaint, the cyber police of Nashik registered an FIR under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 316(2) (criminal breach of trust) of the BNS, and other sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, 1999, and the Information Technology Act.The complainant said the astrologer organised meetings at his office in the city and also online meetings, where he assured huge returns if they invested in the stock market through him. The complainant said the astrologer gave nominal returns on the money he invested through him, and later urged him to put in more money in the share market. The complainant said that while he paid Rs 73 lakh, the astrologer also took huge investments from other people, mainly his clients.Inspector Sanjay Pise, of the cyber police station, said the astrologer shut his office over the past weeks. "We have reports that he may have escaped to Dubai. The police are trying to trace him," Pise said.Pise added that in this case, only one person has registered a case against the astrologer, and there is a possibility that he may have taken similar amounts from a number of other investors. He said people who may have been cheated by the astrologer should approach the city police's cyber police station along Gangapur Road near the police commissionerate.