A Indian man living in the Toronto was charged for pretending to practice the witchcraft after he allegedly convinced the client to pay him $101,000 to remove an evil spirit.

The Toronto police said that Murali Muthyalu, advertised the psychic readings for $20 by handing out business cards in the shopping malls and also placing them in mailboxes between February and March 2017.

The victim, a Brampton man, aged 44, visited Sri Gayatri Astrological Center near the Islington Avenue and Albion Road on Feb. 1st, and he was told that his daughter was carrying an evil spirit. In an online advertisement, the Sri Gayatri Astrological Center advertises the removal of “black magic evil spirits” while also promising to solve every problem from “love” to “money and court problems.” The advertisement also offers a 100 per cent guarantee.

Muthyalu, who has been in the Canada for less than a year, allegedly convinced the victim to pay him to attempt to remove the spirit. When he had performed the ritual and it would not work, Muthyalu convinced the victim to try multiple techniques, the police said. For each technique, Muthyalu’s prices increased, until the victim had spent a total of $101,000, said the police.

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Police would not detail what types of rituals Muthyalu was performing, but the victim’s daughter was present for most of the rituals.

When the victim realized that his daughter’s health was not improving, he deduced that Muthyalu was a fraud and called the police. Muthyalu was charged on Thursday with pretending to practice witchcraft, fraud over $5,000 and also extortion.

While the witchcraft charges are rare in Canada, the law which is mostly considered to be archaic is still regularly enforced. In the year 2012, a Spanish newspaper publisher in the Toronto was charged for same offense after convincing a woman that he could lift her family’s curse.

Mrudula Duddempudi.