Date:19/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061919810400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Astrologer's stars go wrong!

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: A self-styled fortune-teller got caught when he allegedly tried to steal two gold rings of a person in the guise of offering prayers for the latter's "better future" at Alwal on Sunday.

A Government employee K. Santosh Kumar, 30, was alone in the house when K. Venkatesham, the self-styled astrologer, knocked on the door around noon saying he would depict the future.

After winning Kumar's confidence with his sweet talk, the astrologer asked him to remove the two rings he wore and keep it in a steel bowl of rice.

Then, he asked Kumar to turn around and pray. After opening eyes, the employee grew suspicious that the stranger stole the rings from the bowl and called in the neighbours.

When questioned, the visitor feigned ignorance but the rings were found in his clothes when he was subjected to frisking. Later, they handed him over to the Alwal police.