Ponzi Schemes

'Divine' doctor missing with Rs1,600 crore
DNA Correspondent

Ahmedabad: A man who claimed he could magically triple investments in a fortnight by the power bestowed on him by a local deity, has cheated lakhs of people, and pulled off a miracle of another kind: he has vanished with Rs1,600 crore. The Sarkhej police are looking for Ashok Jadeja, alias Ashok Didawal, the man who invoked Sikotar Mata to cheat people. Jadeja is a homeopathic doctor.

Mahavirsingh Sansi, a resident of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, has lodged a complaint with the Sarkhej police, alleging that Jadeja had cheated many others from his community.

"He has been cheating us for the past three months," Sansi said. Jadeja has apparently swindled the complainant and 20 others of a total of Rs22.85 lakh. A senior police inspector of the Sarkhej police station, JP Raol, told DNA that the police had suspected a scam in Jadeja's dealings but could not act because no complaint had been registered.

Sources said that Jadeja's total earnings from his devious scheme could be the tune of Rs1,600 crore. By the time the police reached his home in Makarba, Jadeja had
disappeared.

How is it possible for a homeopathic doctor, along with his subordinates, to earn as much as Rs1,600 crore in a period of just three months? Dr Ashok Jadeja, alias Ashok Didawala, a homeopathic doctor practising in Sarkhej, has been accused of doing exactly this.

The police have not revealed the official figure for the scam that Didawala perpetrated, but sources in the Sansi community said it amounted to around Rs1,600 crore. "The scam is in crores. We will arrest all the accused in a very short time," senior inspector, Sarkhej police station, JP Raol said.

The complainant, Mahavirsingh Sansi, said that Didawala had cheated members of the entire Sansi community across India. "He said he was a priest of Mata Sikotar and that Mata had given him a boon of tripling money," he said in his complaint.

Didawala had promised the members of the community that he would return thrice the amount they paid him, in a very short time, said Sansi. "He paid some money to some people initially. But he stopped delivering on the capital amount later," he said.
In addition to Didawala, Sansi has named Hakam Chhara, Kartar Chhara, Jaswant Chhara, Shaitan Singh, Sheru and Munna in his complaint. The scam was perpetrated at the Sikotar Mata temple at Makarba village in Sarkhej, between January and April.

"Initially, only the Chharas and Sansis in Sarkhej received any money. Later on, the news reached others ghettoes of Chharas and the amount kept increasing," Sansi said.
Since February, Sansis from across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and even Pakistan had been investing in the scam.

According to the complainant, there were several centres for receipt and distribution of the money in various Chhara ghettoes of Sarkhej. "We were aware of the scam, but were unable to take action for want of a police complaint," Raol said.

Initial steps
The scam took birth when Ashok Didawala told the Sansi community, to which he belonged, that Mata Sikotar had granted him a boon, according to which he had the ability to triple any amount of money in a short period of time. Starting with small amounts, people soon began giving him lakhs. Didawala and his subordinates initially paid the returns as promised in order to gain the victims' confidence.

The victims
The Chharas are known as Sansis, Kanjars, Bhedkut and Bhantus in other parts of the country. A huge number of them had invested their money in the scam over the past three months.

Land and homes mortgaged
Sansis, who form one of the most marginalised de-notified tribal communities in India, were at the receiving end of the scam. Mahavirsingh Sansi, the complainant, said that many in Rajasthan had mortgaged their homes, farmland and other property in order to invest in the scam, hoping to receive thrice the amount put in.

Even daughters staked
The complainant said that many Sansis from Rajasthan had mortgaged their daughters to their landlords, taking money on interest for a period of one month. "They thought that once they received the amount, they would clear their dues and get their daughters back. But this seems impossible now," he said.

Greed.
It is one of the baser senses which brings down mankind.
I suppose everyone is greedy to a certain extent.
That is probably why I trade in stocks. I too want to make some quick money.
However, if one controls his greed, it does give him good returns.
The people who fell prey to Ashok Jadeja were simple folks who had implicit faith in their deities and the man took advantage of it.
When anybody promises you an extraordinary rate of return one should be suspicious.
We had our own scam in Bengal some 25 years back.
There was a non banking financial company by the name of Sanchaita which gave returns of 36% PA. Naturally it closed down taking the deposits of many middle class people.
Well, we Indians are uneducated, simple, god fearing, gullible who are easily taken in by the crooks. But what about the following crooks who have cheated the highly educated western world.
Brian Hunter and Amaranth Advisors
John Rusnak and Allied Irish Banks
Jerome Kerviel and Société Générale
Banco Ambrosiano and the Vatican Bank
Bank of Credit and Commerce International
Nick Leeson and Barings Bank
Bre-X and Canadian Mining Scandals
Butcher Brothers and the United American Bank
Carousel Fraud
Cendant Corp.
Credit Lyonnais
Toshihide Iguchi and Daiwa Bank
The Dot-Com Bubble and Investment Banks
Enron Corp. and Arthur Andersen
The Flaming Ferraris | Jardine Fleming
Martin Frankel
Griffin Trading Co.
Conrad Black and Hollinger International
Harshad Mehta (Our very own, does make you feel proud that we have at least one Indian in this august list)
Joseph Jett and Kidder, Peabody & Co.
Liu Qibing and copper futures
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities

So, you see, we Indians are not the only ones.
If you would like to read more about the above scams, see http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/scandals/classic.html
Radheshyam