18 June,2009 09:00 AM IST | | Anshuman G Dutta
Most of fake godman Ajay Jadeja's victims were from Delhi. Rough estimates say he looted a whopping Rs 100 crore from over 700 Delhiites
He criss-crossed the country sweet-talking gullible believers into handing him their money, but his demi-god-like image swayed Delhiites the most. Fake godman Ashok Jadeja looted the maximum number of people in the Capital and that too from his own tribe Sansi.
According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Jadeja cheated hundreds in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab, but most of his victims belong to Delhi.
Duped his own tribe
Curiously, Jadeja, who is lodged in the Ahmedabad jail, targeted only people of the de-notified Sansi tribe in the Capital. "It is surprising that the tribe which is notorious for duping others lost its money to one of its own," said the officer.
Even the tribe's headman wasn't spared. Rajesh Sansi, the national secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Saismal Bhantu Samaj Sangh too became a victim of Jadeja's money-multiplying ploy. Rajesh, who runs a property business, said,u00a0 "I was promised three times of what I was giving him. I was duped of Rs 1.5 lakh. Every Sansi family in Delhi has lost money to Jadeja."
Fraud in God's name
Jadeja used to introduce himself as the one blessed by Vahanvati Sikotar Mata, the tribe's goddess, and promised he had the power to make people unimaginably rich.
"Jadeja came here in January and claimed he had been ordered by Vahanvati Sikotar Mata to collect money from the tribe," Rajesh said.
Another victim, Shayam Kumar, who runs an auto repair shop in Mangolpuri, curses the day he met Jadeja. Recollecting his harrowing experience, Shayam said, "I took a loan of Rs 4 lakh to purchase jewellery. He duped me of it all."
Victims from across society
The ploy used by Jadeja was so watertight that he managed to dupe people from every section of the community irrespective of their professional backgrounds and educational qualifications. So his victims range from senior government officials to rickshawpullers. Ganesh Rahi, whose brother is a senior officer in Government of India, lost Rs 7 lakh to Jadeja. "My brother, being a government officer, cannot even lodge a complaint. The money he gave to Jadeja was borrowed from relatives," said Ganesh.
Ganesh himself lost a fortune that he had kept aside for his widowed daughter's marriage.
Similarly, there are cases of people who sold their valuables only to be duped and now have no option but to go back to liquor-making, the tribe's traditional business.
Prahlad Singh, who lost Rs 50,000, is worried for his children's future. The 31-year-old, who earns a livelihood by driving tourists around the Capital, said,u00a0 "I wanted to provide a decent education to my children, so that they could be free from the scars of this community. But now, I will have to resort to our old habits of duping people and liquor making," he said.
This trick worked
>>Jadeja used to introduce himself as the one blessed by Sansi tribe's Goddess and promised he had the power to make people unimaginably rich.
>>The ploy used by him was so watertight that he managed to dupe people from every section of the community, irrespective of their professional backgrounds and educational qualification. His victims range from senior government officials to rickshawpullers.
>>According to a rough estimate, the amount Jadeja collected in Delhi can cross Rs 100 crore
The fake godman targeted only people of the de-notified Sansi tribe in the Capital
