Lucknow, June 14: Another self-proclaimed godman was nabbed here by the crime branch of Lucknow police for duping a man by faking his identity and selling a 20 beegha plot in Jalalpur village of Kakori for Rs 10 lakh. The plot belonged to a spiritual guru.
Identified as Baba Sarjudas of Sharikpur under Beniganj police station of Hardoi, the man duped a person of cash Rs 3.5 lakh along with a new SUV worth Rs 5.50 lakh and stamp papers worth Rs 1 lakh. The victim, Haji Mohammad Sharif of Sadatganj circle, informed the top brass of district police about him being duped by Sarjudas along with nine others.
Haji complained to the police that two brokers, Ejaz Ahmad of Kakori and Rajiv Pandey of Hardoi, along with Sarjudas met him. The brokers identified Sarjudas as Baba Ramswaroop Das of Faizabad. Sarjudas, posing as Ramswaroop Das, told the victim that he had a plot in his name which he wanted to sell and if Haji was interested he would settle for Rs 20 lakh.
Thinking that Sarjudas was an honest man, Haji agreed for the deal. He, however, told Sarjudas that at present he had only Rs 10 lakh with him which he would pay him and the balance would be paid at a later date.
The fraudsters also agreed to the deal.
Haji, who was finding it difficult to arrange even Rs 10 lakh gave Sarjudas an SUV which he purchased for him in the name of Baba Ramswaroop. Cash Rs 3.5 lakh and stamp paper worth Rs 1 lakh were also given to him. A lawyer along with a lekhpal also became accomplices as they too made Haji believe that it was Ramswaroop who as dealing with the victim and not anybody else.
During this time the actual Baba Ramswaroop Das came to know about the foul play that was committed against him by his own disciple. Taking immediate action against Sarjudas, Ramswaroop got a complaint registered on May 21 last against him and nine others including Haji and his wife Aisha too, as he did not have any idea that Haji and his wife were victims.
When Haji came to know that there was a police complaint against him and his wife which was lodged by Ramswaroop, he initially could not believe it as he was under the impression that he had cordial relations with Ramswaroop. It was only when Haji came to know about the truth that he rushed to the inspector general (IG), Lucknow Range, AK Jain about the incident. Jain ordered an investigation into the matter and the investigations were conducted by the crime branch.
On Saturday police arrested Sarjudas and recovered from him the SUV which was in the house of Sarjudas’s brother-in-law.
A case against the other accused was also registered but all of them were absconding till the time of going to press. Sarjudas, during interrogation, revealed that he along with the other accused had committed similar frauds, the details of which are being further verified.
ASP crime, Nidhi Sonkar said, “Sarjudas duped his own guru as he knew the various properties that Ramswaroop owns and Ramswaroop trusted him.” Sonkar added that the hunt to nab the absconding is on.
–Agencies–