Photo courtesy of Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis via Unsplash
A desire to get all his wishes fulfilled with a “magical lamp” à la Aladdin has landed a doctor in trouble. Yes, we didn’t wake up today thinking we’d read such news either.A doctor who had just got back to India from London was cheated by two men who claimed to be “tantriks” (sorcerers) and sold him “Aladdin Ka Chirag” (Aladdin’s magical lamp) for a whopping Rs 2.5 crore ($0.3 million), promising it will fulfill all his wishes without the much-needed hard work to translate them into reality, and that it will make him a billionaire.The incident took place in the north Indian city of Meerut in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The victim, Dr Laeek Khan, approached the police when he realised he’d been duped, and filed a complaint against the cheats. The doctor claimed that the tantrik and his friend would often make him see a “jinn” appearing from the magical lamp but everytime he asked if he could take the lamp home, they’d refuse saying it might cause him harm. According to the police reports, a patient named Sameena visited Khan in 2018 for a surgery, after which he started visiting her frequently, supposedly for post-surgery care. The doctor alleged that he met the occultist, whose name is Islamuddin, through Sameera at her place. The tantrik and one of his friends promised to make him a billionaire and give him magical powers, courtesy the magical lamp, the idea of which originally comes from the folktale of Aladdin from The Thousand and One Nights (also called The Arabian Nights). Khan also claims that the two accused would often make him see the “jinn” appearing through the “magical lamp”. However, he later realised that he was being fooled, and the “jinn” was actually Sameena’s husband. The police have arrested the two accused, while search is on for Sameena.We thought Will Smith’s blue, bulbous, and questionably top-knotted incarnation of the Genie was the worst thing to have happened to this fable, but we guess this unfortunate bit of news beats it. Good for you, Will.Follow Varsha on Instagram.
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