Advertisement
West Bengal: On Sunday, an official said that a priest was arrested from Darjeeling district of West Bengal for allegedly duping a woman from Nagaland Dimapur by convincing her to buy a ‘mystery box’ worth Rs 3.5 crore that he said would bring her fortune.
They said that Reverend Timothy Joshi, the pastor of New Life Church Ministry in Darjeeling’s Kantibhita, would lure gullible believers into various types of frauds and scams. The victim was convinced by Joshi and his gang to buy the box under the pretext of bringing her fortune.
She deposited Rs 3.5 crore in various bank accounts provided by the clergyman in 2019 and 2020. The initial investigation revealed that the ‘mystery box’ was nothing but an empty box, which was made solely to deceive the victim, police said.
However, it was later found that the ‘mystery box’ was an empty box made solely to deceive the victim. They said that Joshi was arrested by the Dimapur Police based on the complaint filed by the woman. They added that the police found that the accused and his brother had been involved in several scams where the victims were mostly from northeastern states.
