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 Rupees 2000 crore, Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) R K Patel said on June 5. 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 Rupees 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 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 June 1 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.