KANPUR: A deception game with eerie echoes of the UP-set ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ has unspooled in Kanpur, where a pair allegedly bilked Rs 35 crore from over two dozen couples with promises of an “Israel-made time machine to turn them into 25-year-olds”.
Rajeev Dubey and wife Rashmi lured clients with the elixir of “oxygen therapy” once they were inside the “time machine”.
The magical “time machine” never landed but airports have been alerted to ensure the duo don’t fly out after the cops filed an FIR on a complaint from three of the couples allegedly duped.
Therapy centre offered oxygen sessions for Rs 90,000, says ACP
According to police, Rajeev and Rashmi opened a therapy centre, Revival World, in Kidwai Nagar, promising prospective clients their near-divine assortment of potions to regain youth. They are accused of misleading the elderly by warning that Kanpur’s “extremely high pollution levels” were causing them to age rapidly and insisting that all this could be reversed with their “oxygen therapy that would make them look young in a short time”.
ACP Anjali Vishwakarma said the “oxygen sessions” were offered for Rs 90,000 each. “The couple also offered discounts for those bringing in other customers, thus turning the plan into a pyramid scheme,” the ACP said, referring to a ploy used in dubious investment schemes that run aground.
The main complainant, one Renu Singh Chandel, said Rajeev and Rashmi had offered her a free session if she brought someone along. She did, and confessed to having introduced several people. DCP (South) Ankita Sharma confirmed there could be more than two dozen victims, adding the cops were on the hunt for Rajeev and Rashmi.
