This is Mahatma Gandhi's great-granddaughter, jailed for 7 years in Rs 3.22 crore fraud case in..., she faked...

Ashish Lata Ramgobin, the 56-year-old great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, has been sentenced to seven years in jail by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court in South Africa. She was found guilty of fraud and forgery involving over six million rand, which is around Rs 3.22 crore in Indian currency. According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), Lata Ramgobin was accused of cheating a businessman named SR Maharaj in 2015. Maharaj, who is the director of New Africa Alliance Footwear Distributors, gave her 6.2 million rand after she claimed she had imported three containers of linen from India for South Africa’s private healthcare group, NetCare. She said she needed the money to pay for import duties and customs clearance. To convince Maharaj, Lata Ramgobin showed him what appeared to be official documents, including a signed purchase order, an invoice, and a delivery note from NetCare. She even sent a bank confirmation which supposedly showed that NetCare had made a payment. Trusting her background, being the daughter of respected human rights activist Ela Gandhi and the late Mewa Ramgobind, Maharaj agreed to help and expected a share of profits from the deal. However, it was later discovered that the documents were fake and the consignment never existed. Maharaj then filed a criminal complaint.

During the trial, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Lata Ramgobin used forged paperwork to make her story look real. Natasha Kara, a spokesperson for the NPA, confirmed that she tricked Maharaj by using fake invoices and emails. The court not only found her guilty but also denied her request to appeal the conviction and the sentence.

Back in 2015, she was granted bail of 50,000 rand. At the time of the fraud, Lata was known for her work as the founder and executive director of the Participative Development Initiative, a programme run by the NGO International Centre for Non-Violence. She described herself as an activist focusing on social, political, and environmental issues.

Lata Ramgobin comes from a well-known family of rights activists. Her mother Ela Gandhi has received several national honours from India and South Africa for her peace efforts. Other relatives, such as Kirti Menon, the late Satish Dhupelia, and Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, are also known for their social work and activism.

The case has shocked many due to Lata’s strong family legacy, which is closely associated with honesty, peace, and non-violence.