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Godman held in doubling racket

AHMEDABAD: The arrest earlier this month of a “godman-turned-conman” has led to the busting of a money doubling racket. People in several States were duped of over Rs. 1,200 crore, according to Gujarat police.

Ashok Jadeja, formerly an Ayurvedic practitioner, and his wife, Nita, were arrested by the Ahmedabad police on a complaint filed by a resident of Barmer in Rajasthan after which a flood of complaints started pouring in from people claiming to have been duped.

Police arrested 16 of Jadeja’s close relatives and “agents.” They seized half-a-dozen cars and as many motorbikes purchased by Jadeja in his name or in the names of his relatives, and sealed bank lockers containing gold jewellery worth over Rs. 1 crore.

Jadeja cashed in on the belief in “divine powers.” He first preyed on the people of his own “Chhara” community, a denotified tribe, in Ahmedabad and later the dragnet was spread to other denotified tribes in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and other States till his “reputation” as a “godman” spread to as far as Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and even the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In January, word was spread among the Chharas that Jadeja had been bestowed with divine powers by “Mata Sikotar,” the presiding deity of denotified tribes in the State, to remove the “economic problems” of the poor members of the community. Tales were spread on how “Mata Sikotar” arrived in Jadeja’s dream and blessed him with the powers to “double” the money received from the Chharas to make them happy.

CDs, DVDs, pamphlets, leaflets, audio and video cassettes were used to spread the “news” about his divine powers.

To establish his credibility, the money brought to the “godman,” who sometimes gave “darshan” to his “disciples,” was actually doubled and returned promptly. It was told that the money brought in the morning would be “doubled” and returned in the evening the same day and it did.

Initially, the amount brought for doubling was only a few hundred rupees but as confidence in the “godman” grew the amount became huge. The public was told that the amount brought would be tripled if kept for three days and quadrupled if kept for particular auspicious days.

The gang spread the word that the “godman” had also been given the powers to solve the problems of denotified tribes in other States as well.

The Jadejas appointed 18 “agents” in different States to collect the money. People were told to collect in Ahmedabad on the auspicious day” of April 27 to get the money quadrupled.

From a trickle, money started pouring in suitcases and even gunny bags for tripling or quadrupling, but on the appointed day, the Jadejas and his agents disappeared.

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