Pakistan cash swelled Jadeja’s coffers

Ashok Jadeja, who used a saint’s disguise to perpetrate his Rs1,000 crore swindle, collected money from 300 Pakistani ‘investors’, some of whom, according to many victims, stayed at Makarba (in Ahmedabad) during their visits to Jadeja’s self-proclaimed shrine. Sources in the Ahmedabad police, who are apprised of the investigations into the case, could not confirm whether the Pakistani victims had visited the city legally.

The Sansis and Kanjars of Pakistan, who are of the same ethnic stock as the Chharas, have close kinship with their relatives in Rajasthan, and come to India on monthly visas. “Some Pakistani Sansis would often come to Rajasthan, ostensibly to attend a wedding ceremony,” said a Sansi leader from Rajasthan. “But we found out that they had actually come to offer money to Jadeja.”

It is now clear that Jadeja expanded his customer base — which believed his claim that he could triple money with his divine powers — across the country just two months after starting operations. His network spanned places as far-flung from Gujarat as Haryana and the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

In the Andamans, Sansis are known as Bhantus, the universal name of the Chharas. In Pakistan, Chharas go by the Kanjar and Sansi Bhil labels; both communities are considered most backward in Pakistan and their members subsist on begging and prostitution. It is interesting that such destitute groups could afford to pump money into Jadeja’s scheme.  The conman’s network initially involved only 50 Sarkhej families. “He first targeted people who could easily believe him,” said a Chhara community leader. “He picked on the illiterate and even gave them substantial returns to win their confidence.”