Ayodhya police have exposed a ₹3.85 crore fraud where devotees were duped under the guise of getting prasad from the Ram Mandir in a significant cybercrime breakthrough.
Respected Ghaziabad resident Ashish Singh, the mastermind, opened a phoney portal called khadiorganic.com to take advantage of public emotions before the Ram Lalla consecration ceremony set for January 22, 2024. Active between December 19, 2023, and January 12, 2024, the phoney website claimed to provide doorstep delivery of prasad, idols, temple replicas, and commemorative coins. Paying a “facilitation fee,” over six lakh domestic and foreign devotees fell victim to services never rendered.
With deft use of several digital payment gateways, Singh accumulated ₹10.49 crore overall in transactions. Of this, ₹3.85 crore was especially set aside for prasad distribution.
The fraud surfaced when the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust noted dubious internet activity. Following were official police complaints referencing charges under cybercrime, cheating, and the IT Act. When Singh got back from the US, he was taken under custody.
Since then, Ayodhya Police have refunded ₹2.15 crore to 3,72, 520 victims—the biggest cybercrime refund ever recorded in Uttar Pradesh.
Seven more cybercriminals were caught in Lucknow during a parallel crackdown running fictitious gaming accounts using Cricbuzz and Fairplay applications. These con artists fooled people with promises of returns via internet games.
The crackdown emphasizes the growing complexity of cybercrime and the need of public digital awareness.
