Ashok Jadeja

Ashok Jadeja(born on 1st June, 1974), popularly known as Ashok Maadi and Mataji Ashok, is homeopathist and self-proclaimed 'Godman' , Godman-turned-conman as he has been accused of cheating people from across India of crores of rupees on the pretext of having divine blessings of "Vahanwati Sikotar Mata"(Goddess of local cast) to multiply money. Several thousand people, mainly belonging to Chhara, Adodiya, Gajjar, Sansi and Madvi community across India, were cheated of few hundred crores of rupees with him and his agents spreading rumors of him having divine powers for multiplying money deposited with. him.

• Ashok Jadeja
  Ashok Jadeja

Style of Fraud

He looted people in the garb of religion using simple method. He would reportedly sit outside the temple called the Sikotar Mandir in the city and tell gullible people that if they kept their money with him, the goddess would make them rich. He would gain his customers’ confidence by paying back thrice the amount deposited in the first few transactions. Reports suggest that it was a smooth operation run with the help of 35-odd accomplices. He has accumulated more than 20 crore in three states. I am Madi Ashok Jadeja. I am blessed by Mata Sikotar. I have divine powers. I can treble your money. If you give me one lakh today, I will give you three lakhs next week. Hundreds of people were enticed by his charms and they gave away thousands of crores to him.

His primary targets were the people of the Chharas community – a poverty stricken nomadic tribe who were once notified by the British as a criminal tribe. Mataji asked me to take care of you people. She has given me the sole responsibility to double your money to ensure our tribe becomes the richest in the world he told the members of the community.

His initial targets were women of the community, who are known to be staunch followers of the goddess Vahanwati Sikotar Mataji. Claiming divine powers, he would invite them for religious rituals and then lure them into contributing whatever they could. He also made a movie on a CD detailing his divine powers, The CD featured popular folk artists and had a lot of songs and dances in it which kept the audience transfixed and mesmerized them. Initially, he rarely managed to garner more than Rs 100 to Rs 200 at a time, but his earnings soon ran to lakhs and crores as his followers became increasingly swayed by him.

His popularity sky-rocketed in January 2009. People would wait for long hours to hear him speak. Many would touch his feet and seek blessings. Huge crowds would gather at each gathering. The modus operandi was relatively simple. He would take Rs. 200 from people and assure them of Rs. 600 in three days. He would keep his word and the delighted victim would get the promised three-fold. This inspired confidence amongst the community. When his fraudulent scheme became popular and started fetching him serious money, he gradually increased the amount of money and also the duration of repayment, initially by a week, then by a fortnight and then by a month. As news of his ‘miraculous powers’ spread like wildfire, he created an entire organization – complete with finance managers and agents who worked on a commission. The commission was 1% and could be higher depending on the volume of money brought in. His finance manager was a man appropriately named ‘Shaitaan Singh’. His empire was spread out over several states including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.

He was careful to keep the pretence that he was doing a special favor only for the benefit of his community and that others could not take advantage of the Mata’s bonanza. He asked all contributors to recite prayers in the local dialect to prove they were actually Sansis. He said he didn’t want ‘others’ to make quick money using the goddess’ blessing. He even took the contributor’s voter Information card photocopies and made entries in a register to keep the pretence that everything was ‘official’. He made staggering sums of money – running into several hundred crores. The loot was used for real estate investments in Gujarat and neighboring areas.

Victims of Fraud

The surprising thing is that it is not only the illiterate and superstitious members of the Chharas community that Ashok Jadeja managed to dupe but also savvy builders, businessmen, lawyers and even police officials.

Life Style

His life style was glamours. On 4 June, 2009, a video was received by police in which he was seen dancing with bar girls, showering new currency notes on them. Most of the money he accumulated through fraud was invested into purchasing gold and property. About Rs 1 crore worth diamond-studded gold, silver ornaments were also recovered from local bank. He was in illegal possession of nearly 6,500 square meters of land of which over 300 square meters were a built-up area

Arrestment

He was arrested on 31 May, 2009 with recovery of Rs.1.98 crore. with his wife Neeta.

Consequences after his arrestment

On 10 June, 2009, a local court in Gujarat granted Criminal Investigation Department with permission to conduct narco test on him. Police officials from neighboring Rajasthan, Maharashtra and other parts of the country had come to Gujarat to interrogate him and his associates.

On 17 June, 2009, forensic experts conducted a physical test and psychological profiling at Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS), Gandhinagar.

On 22 June, 2009, a large number of accountants were appointed in Gujarat to calculate and maintain the record of cash and jewellery recovered from him.

On 24 June, 2009, he admitted during his narco analysis that he had no godly or mystical powers. In addition, he also revealed that some policemen and bootleggers have also been benefited from his "money-multiplying scheam". Approximately, he has amassed Rs 20 crore as a personal profit from the multi-crore swindle. According to him, many others had ‘earned’ more than him.

On 19 July, 2009 his last bastion crumbled in a joint operation by the Revenue Department, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the police when his two-storied bungalow and other structures were demolished.

Chances of recovery

Chances of recovery of the swindled funds are remote. It is also a laborious process to bring the guilty to book. India has a very poor track record in the matter of dealing with scams. Previous scams such as the Harshad Mehta scam, the Ketan Parekh scam, the Telgi scam and innumerable others are still clogged up in the courts, with no end in sight.