SENSATIONAL 2000 CRORE CHEATING

Master conman Ashok Jadeja might have cheated the entire members of Sansi community, a denotified nomadic tribe spread over north and western states of the country, off around Rs 2000 crore, Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) R K Patel said today, Mr Patel, who is investigating the case said ‘Complaints being poured in at police stations in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, besides Gujarat indicate that on a rough estimate Jadeja and his agents might have swindled around Rs 2,000 crore,’.

Jadeja, a self-styled godman, had cheated the people of his own community by luring them to deposit their hard earned money with a promise to return twice or thrice the amount within a few days.

Assuming the role of a godman after abandoning practice as an Ayurveda doctor, Jadeja, whose ancestors migrated here from Barmer, Rajasthan, and changing surname from Didawala to Jadeja, cheated the people, who led by superstition and greed for money, fell in his trap. The magnitude of the offence is yet to unravel as the victims have just started filing complaints in different police stations in a few states.

While Jadeja and his wife were arrested on Monday while attempting to flee in a car with about Rs two crore in cash, his ten other relatives, carrying more than Rs eight lakh were arrested on Wednesday from Kunvara village in Patan district. His brother, sisters and other close relatives took active part in Jadeja's operations, police said, adding that a total of 17 people had been arrested so far. Jadeja and his wife were remanded to police custody till June 11 by Metropolitan Magistrate R M Parikh.

Aiming to become rich instantly, Jadeja and his wife Nita, who hailed from Ajmer, Rajasthan, spread a canard among his community people through agents in many states that he was blessed by Goddess Vahanvati Sikotar Mata and had got the divine power to double or triple money invested by his community people.

By the side of his modest house in Sarkhej area of city, a makeshift temple of Sikotar Mata was built, where the unholy transactions took place through agents. Initially, he collected small amounts and returned double of it within few hours or days.

Later it was made to tripling and the duration was extended.

Many, who deposited their life time savings with Jadeja, often selling property or withdrawing bank deposits, are now left felling cheated.