By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Gangammanagudi police on Friday arrested a 41-year-old astrologer on charges of conning a woman and sexually assaulting her on the pretext of teaching her astrology. The accused has been identified as Dinesh alias Anand Kumar, a resident of Abbigere Layout. He is also popular as a numerologist.

A police officer said, "The 28-year-old woman, a resident of Yeshwantpur, came in contact with Dinesh in April 2017 as he would appear regularly on a private news channel. He also offered to teach astrology. Believing him, the woman managed to get his personal number and contacted him. Dinesh, who is married, sexually assaulted her repeatedly and threatened that he would kill her if she revealed it to his wife or anyone else.

Meanwhile, he forced her to bring `50 lakh as he had a financial crisis and promised that he would refund it within a few weeks. When she asked him to repay the money, he started avoiding her. She also came to know that he had sexually exploited other women on the pretext of teaching astrology. Based on a complaint, Dinesh was arrested and handed over to judicial custody after medical examination."

During investigation, police found that Dinesh had promised to teach the woman advanced astrology if she performed sexual favours in return. The woman had agreed initially as he had promised to make her an expert in three months. However, he then went on to assault and rape her, a police official said. "If any other victims approach the police, we will file a complaint to take further action against Dinesh", a police officer said.