Ashok Jadeja

Ashok Jadeja(born on 1st June, 1974), popularly known as Ashok Maadi and Mataji Ashok, is self-proclaimed 'Godman' , and 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.

Real identity and fake degree of Homeopathy

His real identity is Chhara Ashok Jairambhai. But he is also a megalomaniac with a wily mind and soaring ambition who felt his humble surname wasn’t working for him. So Chhara Ashok changed over to Ashok Jadeja. He practised homoeopathy for long but he was no homoeopath either. He bought the degree from a college in Bihar for Rs 3.5 lakh after failing to complete a course in a city college. He first took admission in a homoeopathy institute called SN Patel College in Bapunagar, Ahmedabad for a course in Bachelor in Electro Homoeopathy Medicine and Surgery way back in 1993-96, but did not complete it. The college, now shut, was run by one Dr Umesh Gondaliya, a pathologist.

After the attempt failed, he sought out a university which allegedly sold degrees. One of his classmates in the Bapunagar college, said, he bought a Bachelor in Homoeopathy Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) degree from RBTS Government Homoeopathy Medicine College of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur for Rs 3.5 lakh. Unscrupulous officials in the college allegedly insert a few dummy names on the course register, which are later changed to names of people paying money to buy degrees. His fake degree certificate mentions he did the five-year BHMS course between 1995-2000.

After years of practising illegally, he was armed with a ‘degree’ and hence proceeded to get it registered with Council of Homeopathy System of Medicine (Gujarat). That was on May 31, 2008. He submitted Chhara Ashok Jairambhai as his original name and Dr Ashok Jadeja Jairambhai as his new name as mentioned in the fake degree.

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.

He ruined several lives but the harm done to Sharmishtha Charra is irrecoverable.

Sharmishtha's husband Kiran Indrekar Charra divorced her after she lost Rs 5 lakh to his cheating. Sharmishtha gave away all her jewellery and investment to invest in his scheme. She was not willing to invest in the beginning but after sustained persuasion from Manbai,Ashok Jadeja's aunt, she invested Rs 1000 to begin with. She was paid back thrice the amount enough to convince her of Ashok Jadeja's special powers. She took some money from friends, collected all her jewellery and invested about Rs 5 lakh second time. Her husband Kiran was very upset with all this. He had warned her about the scheme being bogus and asked his wife not to commit such a large amount to Ashok Jadeja. After that, it all came crashing for her. On May 30, Kiran called all his elders and told that he had warned his wife against falling for the trap.

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.

Involvement of relatives

On 3 June, 2009,his ten relatives were apprehended by police from Kunwara village, about 12 km from Sidhapur in Patan district of North Gujarat, for their alleged involvement with him in cheating people.

Cash, ornaments and mobiles worth Rs 8,20,302 have been recovered by police

Of ten alleged accused, eight are residents of a locality behind Makarbha Mota Roja at Dhandhuka railway crossing gate, on outskirts of Ahmadabad, while the other two—identified as Nikita Khimji Jayram and Manoher Bhogilal Kompawat—are residents of Panch Batti and Bagiyana at Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

On 7 June, 2009, Maanbai, aunt of him was arrested for allegedly aiding and abetting her nephew in his crime of duping people in the name of God.

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 July, 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.

On 3 August, 2009, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition filed by him. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan told the petitioner that this court could not pass such an order.

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.