Two men have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh, India for allegedly duping a doctor into buying an “Aladdin’s lamp” and genie will grant him 3 wishes including wealth, health and good fortune.
As part of the con, they even pretended to conjure up spirits – the genie from the lamp, in line with the tale from The Arabian Nights, Indian media report.
The 2 conmen had reportedly wanted 15,000,000 Indian rupees (RM800,000) for the lamp but he only settled for a down payment of 33,10000 rupees (RM175,000).
After the doctor realised he was duped then he lodged a report with local police in Meerut, western Uttar Pradesh, earlier this week.
In the police statement, he said he met the two men when he began treating a woman he understood to be their mother over the course of a month, reported by NDTV.
“Gradually they started telling me about a baba (godman) whom they claimed also visited their home. They started brainwashing me and asked me to meet this baba,” he said. Then, he did meet the baba “who seemed to perform such rituals”.
During one visit to their home, ‘Genie’ made an appearance in front of him from the ‘Aladdin’s lamp’. The doctor was convince on the lamp’s authenticity and it was only later that he realised one of the accused had been dressing up as the genie.
A senior Meerut police officer, Amit Rai, told local media agency that the same men were suspected of cheating other families in similar ways. “Two have been arrested. A woman is on the run,” he said.