Con couple jailed for duping hundreds of people of Rs78Lakh

In a case similar to conman Ashok Jadeja who duped hundreds of people with promises of making their money triple its amount, the court of metropolitan magistrate JK Pandya on Thursday awarded six years of rigorous imprisonment to a man and his wife on charges of cheating.

The accused, Sandeep Champaklal Shah, was awarded six years of rigorous imprisonment while his wife Geeta Sheth was awarded two-and-half-years of simple imprisonment in a cheating case that amounted to more than Rs78.82 lakh. As per case details, the accused had formed the firm Ekta Credit Cooperative & Supply Society at Jashoda Nagar in Vatva GIDC on April 1, 2006 which promised various schemes for its members with money doubling on monthly, daily, quarterly and on yearly basis.

Under the scheme, money worth around Rs245 lakh was collected from around 11,223 registered members. Moreover, Shah also purchased land at Lambha worth Rs 29.51 lakh under his wife’s name.

The firm distributed cheques to 87 people and vouchers to 793 people worth Rs22.5lakh. However, most of the cheques bounced as there was no money in the bank accounts. The scam was unearthed after a newspaper reported about the large-scale bungling in the schemes. On the basis of newspaper report, the district register inspected the office and finding gross anomalies in the schemes took over charge of the firm by dissolving the trust on September 3, 2007.

Later, the district registrar appointed Nathu Bhai Parmar as vaivatdar, who after finding anomalies in the scheme, filed a complaint against six people including Sandeep Shah, Geeta Sheth, Vijay Rawal, Ramesh Sheth, Falguni Gajjar and Kanhayia Patel. The court acquitted Rawal, Ramesh Sheth, Falguni Gajjar and Kanhayia Patel while convicting Shah and Geeta Sheth. The court also fined both Shah and Geeta Sheth of Rs10,000.