‘Duped of Rs 3 crore’, Karjan villagers rue police apathy

Villagers from Karjan taluka in Vadodara have alleged that police and district administration are repeatedly turning a blind eye to their complaint against one Maulvi Yunus Musa, who had allegedly duped them of over Rs 3 crore nearly a year ago.

Over 100 villagers belonging to Muslim community are trying to know where Musa disappeared after police took him into custody in August last year and released him after a day. Villagers said "police and district administration are keeping mum on the issue and are not ready to lodge an FIR against Musa" despite their repeated plea.

Musa persuaded villagers to invest in a bogus Maulvi Mobile Company in June last year, which he said would give them a handsome return of Rs 3,000 every 10 days and a share in company's profit- a scheme that he said was meant only for Muslim villagers.

Musa first started persuading villagers in Valan about his fake investment scheme, later expanding his network to nearby villages.

After collecting over Rs 3 crore from villagers, he disappeared. "He was spotted in his village in August last year, upon which people tried to corner him and took him to Panchayat where he promised to return all their money by selling off his property as someone else had duped him of his money. From here he was taken to Karjan police station. There he was taken into protective police custody for a day," Mohammad Selar, who lives in Valan, said.

Karjan police refused to lodged an FIR against Musa saying they were already investigating the matter, Selar said, adding, neither police nor officials at Vadodara Collector office are listening to their plea.

Selar said he tried to get details about Musa's mysterious disappearance from the Karjan police station, but police refuse to say anything.

"We even filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to Vadodara rural police in March, but they forwarded the application to Karjan police station, which has given them no reply so far," he said.

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