She had accumulated Rs 1.50 lakh by begging, but Rukmini, a 60-year-old widow, had hopes of tripling that amount so she could marry off her two daughters — with some divine intervention from Dr Ashok Jadeja. Now she, like many of her neighbours, has lost all.

Ashok Jadeja has cheated about 200 poor families of the Sansi community in Jammu — known as Chharas in Gujarat — most of who work at menial jobs such as rag-picking or polishing shoes. These families had deposited about Rs 70 lakh with the self-professed godman as ‘prasadi’, which is what Jadeja used to call the monetary offerings given to him.

On Wednesday, over 100 angry victims of Jadeja, took out a procession and blocked the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in protest, demanding action against the conman. “We were lured into depositing money with Jadeja in the name of the Sansi community, to which he belongs. He said he was tripling the money only for Sansis. Therefore, we believed him,” said Sohan Lal, another victim and resident of Rajiv Nagar. About 150 families have lost Rs 50 lakh in Rajiv Nagar locality alone, while about Rs 10 lakh each has been lost by Sansi people in Kalka Colony and Trikuta Nagar.

Most of the victims claimed that they had sold off their valuables and even mortgaged their houses to deposit money with the godman. They ‘donated’ the money over March and April this year, and the godman had told them to get their money after one month. Then, Jadeja vanished, says Mohan, a victim.

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