INDORE/UJJAIN: Lodge owners in Hussain Tekri , a 19th century shrine on outskirts of Jaora district, have been chaining people believed to be mentally unstable and minting money from their families under the garb of getting them treated through prayers.Ratlam police have busted the illegal business model of the lodge owners and arrested one of the operators. Over 35 people chained in the lodges have been released in the massive operation that ended on Sunday."We have arrested owner of Vasi Lodge, Mohd Sayeed, for wrongful confinement under the IPC and voluntarily causing grievous hurt under Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act," Jaora CSP Deepak Shukla told TOI."We found that people were tied to chains and made to move around the shrine lighting lobhan (a kind of incense). People believe that lighting lobhan help get rid of mental illness," he said.Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Bahadur, the then Nawab of Jaora, had built the shrine in 19th century. The shrine is known for Hajri rituals intended to cure mental ailments.People throng the shrine to get relief from ghosts and demons, believing that the evil spirits surrender before the shrine and leave the bodies of the victims.Police got the hint of torture and wrongful confinement meted out at the lodges when one Kaluram Chouhan, 55, a resident of Tripolia Gate, Ratlam, escaped from the clutches of Sayeed and narrated his tale.Chouhan told TOI that he was taken to Hussain Tekri by a group of people and held captive in the lodge."There were 10-12 others, all in shabby clothes. We were chained and not given anything to eat. Every now and then, someone would come and beat us up," he said.He said that someone called Rafiq felt pity on him and allowed him to make a phone call, securing his rescue. Mahendra Pratap Singh , in-charge of Jaora Industrial Area police station, where Chouhan lodged his complaint, said investigations revealed that his son and wife had branded him mad and sent him with the group of people to Hussain Tekri. Chouhan had refused to lodge complaint against them.But as the matter escalated, police raided the lodges near the shrine and found that the lodge owners minted money from families living behind their relatives with a belief that they will be treated."The lodge owners took Rs 7000 to Rs 8000 from the families every month," CSP Shukla said adding "we have issues a warning that this practice has to stop. People cannot be chained - notwithstanding if they are mentally ill or not."The rescued people have been handed over to their relatives, who were summoned from different parts of the state.The police have told the lodge owners that they can accommodate mentally ill people only if a relative accompanies them and takes care of them.Hussain Tekri, which also hosts the graveyard of Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Bahadur, is visited by thousands of people from different parts of the world during the month of Muharram. They come to offer prayers at the shrines of Hazrat Imam Hussain here, which is a replica of the ones in Iraq.

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