MEERUT: In the dim, flickering light of oil lamps, amidst the rhythmic hum of hollow chants, a young 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 the 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.

‘I got ritual done on my 20-yr-old daughter thrice but haven’t received money so far’

Other members include DN Tripathi, again from Agra, who is a property dealer-cum-astrologer; Sanjay Chauhan, an Ayurvedic goods store owner in Agra; and Santosh Singh, a medical store owner from Etah.

Additional SP, Sambhal, Anukriti Sharma, said, “The mobile phones of the accused had hundreds of videos and images -- a grotesque catalogue of victims. Young men and women, aged 18 to 22, were videographed holding placards displaying 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 such as Varanasi, Etah, Mathura, Firozabad, among others. According to the investigative agencies, the gang preyed on the poorest of the poor. In their coded language, they referred to the girls as "article" or "samaan" or (object) or “tomato”.
For a girl to be chosen, she had to meet a specific criteria. She must be a virgin, at least 5 feet 5 inches tall, and her body must be free of scars, injuries, or even tattoos. She must have no history of romantic or sexual relationships. The more beautiful her face, the more perfect her body -- the greater the promise of wealth. Once a girl was selected, she was subjected to rituals, including sexual exploitation.
The syndicate targeted families with limited financial resources and education, knowing they are more susceptible to deception.
“Humne teen baar dhanvarsha kriya karvaaya par abhi tak dhan nahi aaya (I got the ritual done on my daughter thrice but haven’t received the money so far),” said an Etah-based father accompanied by his 20-year-old daughter when summoned to the police station. The woman 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,” she said.
Police are trying to trace more of these women. Whether all of them returned home is also part of the investigation.
Explaining the money trail, ASP Sharma told TOI: “The entire system was fuelled by some people’s insatiable desire to become wealthy, and they resorted to these tantric practices. Once the sponsors of these rituals were convinced of the 'power of this medium', they were made to shell out a fee of Rs 20,000 and upwards."
The gang established connections through social media, luring victims with false promises. One of the videos purportedly shows boxes stuffed with currency notes along with ritualistic material on the ground beside a naked woman whose face is masked with a cloth. The lure was that boxes full of currency notes 'appear from nowhere' if the ritual succeeds.
As per police sources, several videos are there in which these girls can be seen being exploited sexually by the "guru".
The matter came to light on March 11, when a youth, Raj Pal, approached the Dhanari police station of Sambhal with a complaint that his neighbours – Lakhan Singh and Rinku -- fraudulently took him to Agra, where he was tied and prepared for "human sacrifice". But somehow, he escaped and managed to reach home and went straight to the police station. When police took the accused into custody, their mobile phones revealed the chilling details related to the "dhanvarsha".
“Until now, 14 persons have been arrested, and they belong to different districts of UP like Agra, Etah, Bulandshahr, Sambhal and Firozabad. They have been booked under BNS sections 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 140 (1) (kidnapping with intention to murder), 111 (organised crime), 143 (human trafficking), sections of the IT Act and Wildlife Protection Act. We have launched an extensive probe and it seems this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said SP Sambhal KK Bishnoi.

“As we went deeper, a horrifying truth began to unfold. The mobile phones of the accused had hundreds of videos and images -- a grotesque catalogue of victims. Young boys, young girls, barely women, aged 18 to 22, were videographed holding placards displaying their name, age, height, weight, body measurements and even the date of their last menstrual cycle. Alongside them were images of owls, turtles and other trafficked wildlife — living sacrifices in a perverse trade of blood and belief.” - Additional SP, Sambhal Anukriti Sharma.