Nagarkurnool: Two women who allegedly cheated innocent people by claiming to possess supernatural powers to unearth hidden treasures were arrested by the police in district on Wednesday.

According to SP Gaikwad Vaibhav Raghunath, the accused — Kottala Alivelu from Antaram village of Tadoor mandal, residing in Ayyappa Colony, Nagarkurnool, and Atelli Anita from Vikarabad district — had been deceiving people for several months. They made people believe that their health problems were due to hidden treasures beneath their lands or houses and that they could bring them out through special rituals.

The duo planted fake gold coins in advance and later pretended to “discover” them during rituals, thus convincing the victims and extorting large sums of money. Based on reliable information, police conducted raids and arrested the two women, seizing Rs 7.5 lakh in cash and 1,160 fake gold coins from their possession.

SP Vaibhav Raghunath cautioned the public against falling prey to such superstitious scams and urged victims of similar frauds to come forward and report their cases.

Additional SP Venkateshwarlu, DSP Burri Srinivasulu, CI Ashok Reddy, SI Govardhan, and police constables Bheemudu, Venkatesh, and Ramesh were part of the operation.