Man dupes 8,000 women of crores in Shahpur, police form special team to nab accused

BELAGAVI: A man, identified as Babasaheb Lakshman Kolekar, a native of Solapur in Maharashtra, has allegedly cheated around 8,000 women in Shahpur by promising them part-time work and collecting money from them. According to estimates, Babasaheb has collected around Rs 12 crore from 8,000 women.

The women, who are mostly from the lower-income group, are now facing financial difficulties and are seeking justice. The victims, mostly dailywage workers and homemakers, were promised a job of packaging agarbhattis (incense sticks) and were asked to pay Rs 2,500 for an ID card. The accused took the money from the women on the pretext of getting them ID cards and providing them with a daily income. However, he has disappeared without providing any work or returning the money.

Lakshmi Kamble, one of the victims, said, “He promised to give us jobs for packing agarbatthis, but he did not pay us. He took Rs 2,500 from me and he has cheated about 4,000 women. He made it look it like he gave us payments for three months. He said his name was Ajaybhai Patil, but his name is different. We gave the Gruha Laxmi dole to him”.

“He took money from us but did not give payments. He took money from over 5,000 women. He operated like a multi-level marketing scheme. He told us a different name, but went by a different name”, said Mallavva Ravi Jangambe.

The victims have lodged complaints with the police and protested outside the police commissioner’s office, demanding action against the accused. The police have registered cases against Babasaheb and have formed a special team to probe the case and are on the lookout for the accused.

Police Commissioner Bhushan Gulabrao Borase said, “A case of cheating and criminal breach of trust was registered at Shahpur police station on October 25. The accused Babasaheb Lakshman Kolekar, a resident of Solapur in Maharashtra, opened an office by the name of Mahila Gruha Udyog Samooha where he promised women Rs 3,000 for packaging 30 bundles of agarbhatti. For this, he collected Rs 2,500 for providing ID cards from the women.

“Initially, he gave the women some agarbhatti for packaging. But when they started demanding money, he went absconding. After the victims approached us, we have filed an FIR and given the seriousness of the case, a special team has been formed to arrest him and return the money to the victims”, the police commissioner said.