Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Cops probing into the ‘iridium fraud’ case were shocked to learn that accused Raj Singh alias Rajeshkumar Tarkeshwarsingh, a resident of Jharkhand, was posing as a RAW agent to impress the investors. The fraudster was arrested by the police for duping film producer-director Vipul Shah and his business partner of Rs. 5 crore by luring them into investing in ‘iridium business'.
The accused was carrying three to four fake identity cards with him. He was organising seminars for handicapped people in which senior government officials were called as chief guest. After identifying ‘targets’ from the audience, he get befriended with them. Slowly, he was introducing “iridium business” to the targets. To convinces the ‘targets’, he was posing himself as secret agent of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). A police official informed that Raj Singh had even told one investor that he was working with Indian government for extradition of Vijay Mallya.
He was always seen with a handicapped woman. He had also forged marriage certificate so that he could gain sympathy of investors, he official said.
Film director and Producer Vipul Shah was duped by Raj Singh and his two accomplices of Rs five crore. He approached Shah and his partner in his film production house, Vinit Singh, sometime in 2010, promising to invest Rs. 100 crore in film-production.
The accused told Shah and his partner that they were in the lucrative business of collecting antiques and British-era coins which contain iridium, a rare metal. Iridium is in great demand for its "supernatural powers'' and even the defence forces need it, the accused had told Shah and his partner. They allegedly offered Shah and Singh an opportunity to invest in this business.
Shah said in his complaint that he and his partner travelled all across the country with the accused, spending their own money and even transferring some money to the accused, in connection with the so-called business before they realized that they were being taken for a ride. They had spent around Rs. 5 crore during these travels, Shah told police. A police official said that the accused had duped more than 20 citizens by promising huge returns. “They will lodge the complaint on Tuesday,” the official said.
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