Four held over selling of captured 'ghosts'

The accused were arrested from Burdwan and preliminary investigation revealed that they had cheated on many people earlier.

An occultist from Baguiati came in touch with the four youth and the latter assured him of selling "ghosts". They also demanded Rs 20,000 from him.

The occultist had sent Tapas Chowdhury and two others to buy ghost from the youth. They went to Dhanbad where the accused took them to a hotel. The youth showed them a bottle of soft drink with a one rupee coin inside it.

They claimed that the ghost had put the coin inside the bottle. They also claimed that the ghost will work as per the wish of the master.

But some of their behaviour raised suspicion and Chowdhury refused to give the money. The situation worsened when the accused locked Chowdhury and two others in the room. But they forgot to take the mobile phones of the trio. Chowdhury somehow managed to call the local police station and reported the incident. Police reached the spot and arrested the accused. The police also rescued Chowdhury and the two others. A car bearing a sticker of police was also seized.

Members of the racket used to conduct raid in some of the places, where deals used to go on, posing as officers of the Criminal Investigation Department.

Using the opportunity, the other members used to flee with the money.

The police initiated a probe to ascertain how many people the accused had cheated on using the similar modus operandi.

They used to call all the prospective buyers in different hotels after midnight and people used to believe them as the accused created such an atmosphere.