Fraudsters duping devotees in name of ‘darshan’ passes

A series of incidents across major temples in Maharashtra have exposed malpractices ranging from black marketing of darshan passes to fake QR codes and portals to misuse of VIP entry; all of which have exploited the faith (and desperation) of devotees seeking a satisfying spiritual experience.

- Shrinivas Deshpande

‘While these cases were reported separately, taken together, they reveal a disconcerting pattern that has forced temple authorities and district administrations to revisit the systems that are presently in place.

At the Jyotirlinga shrine in Trimbakeshwar, Nashik, Nashik rural police arrested five men for black marketing of darshan passes wherein they used fake identities to book multiple passes—officially priced at %200—only to subsequently sell them at 2800 to 21,000 apiece. Having worked at flower stalls near the temple, the men used the familiarity to approach devotees unfamiliar with the online pass booking system.

Mahesh Kulkarni, police inspector at Trimbakeshwar police station, said, “Many devotees don’t know how to book online passes. These accused would offer to help such devotees under the pretext of selling flowers.”

Initially, they helped the devotees book passes for free while selling flowers but soon realised that they could exploit the system to their advantage. With no mechanism to crosscheck identity cards during online booking, the accused began mass booking passes and reselling them at inflated prices. The police found out that one of the accused, Shivraj Aher, booked over 1,000 passes in this manner. The accused had also created a WhatsApp group through which the passes were sold. Investigators suspect that more people may be involved in this racket.