A doctor's desire to make all his wishes come true with a "magic lamp" has ended up a big disappointment.
The doctor, who had just arrived in India from London, was duped by two men who claimed to be "tantriks," or sorcerers, and sold him an "Aladdin" magic lamp for $93,000, Insider reported.
The two men promised the doctor the lamp would fulfill all his wishes, make him a billionaire and even give him supernatural powers. The two have been arrested, India authorities said.
As part of the con, the two dealers even pretended to conjure up a genie from the lamp. The genie was one of the men dressed up, India news reports said.
Laeek Khan asked if he could touch the genie or take the lamp home but the men refused - saying it might cause him harm, the police complaint said.
The two men had allegedly demanded more than $200,000 for the lamp but settled for a down payment of $41,600. A third suspect, a female, is being sought, police said.
According to senior police officer Amit Rai, the two men had tricked other families using the same lamp con. "The total amount of money involved in the scam runs into several million rupees," he said.
Based on the complaint, Khan met the two when he started seeing a woman he thought to be their mother over the course of a month.
Over time, he said the two men began telling him about a baba, or godman, whom they claimed visited their home. "They started brainwashing me and asked me to meet this godman, BBC News quoted him as saying. Khan said he did meet the baba "who seemed to perform such rituals."
