Overview
- Mumbai police arrested Rhythm Panchal, 37, in Malad and a court remanded him to police custody for three days.
- Investigators say more than 60 people have filed complaints, and they are still collecting accounts and evidence.
- Witnesses describe late-night darbars where he demanded cash, liquor, cigarettes, live chickens and goat liver as ritual offerings.
- Reports say he targeted women seeking help for infertility or personal crises and then exploited and threatened them.
- Police booked him for criminal intimidation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and under Maharashtra’s 2013 law against black magic after officers posed as devotees to verify the claims.