delhi

Updated: Apr 18, 2015 23:46 IST

A self-styled ‘godman’ has been arrested along with his associate for allegedly cheating several villagers from Haryana of around Rs 2 crore by promising high returns for investing in his company.

The man identified as Jaidev Kohli, 41, floated a finance company, Bullish Aura Financial Services (India) Limited, at Kalkaji in Delhi and assured a return of 4% to 6% every month to the investors.

After collecting a huge amount of money from unsuspecting villagers of Haryana, he shut his company and disguised himself as a fake godman. The man started preaching followers posing as Baba Kamal Nayan Vashisht.

His aide Mridul Chauhan has been arrested while a few others are on the run.

Police said Kohli had obtained an MBA degree in finance and marketing from IGNOU in 2007.

He worked in some multinational companies before floating his own finance company to cheat people.

Kohli later started a religious trust, Kamal Nayan Foundation, and began enticing people to donate money.

Mandeep Singh Randhawa, DCP (southeast), said the racket was discovered when they were probing a cheating case filed last year at the Kalkaji police station by one Nahar Singh from Haryana’s Rewari.

Singh told he police that in 2012 he and 18 other people from Rewari and Jhajjar were convinced by Dashrath Chauhan and his son Mridul Chauhan, residents Rewari, to invest money in Bullish Aura assuring them a return of 4% to 6% per month.

“The directors of the company — Jaidev Kohli, Anjali Kohli and Phool Kumar Kadyan — persuaded the investors to invest money. The company’s employees used to take the investors to Delhi in their cars to show the office and their working,” said Randhawa.

The villagers initially made small investments and got high returns. After winning the faith of the victims, the company and its directors persuaded them to invest bigger amounts.

The villagers invested large amounts and even sold their land for it.

A total investment of around Rs 2 crore was made and the company gave post-dated cheques that were dishonoured.

Mridul Chauhan was first arrested and he spilled the beans on Jaidev Kohli who had turned himself into a godman.

"Our team tracked the fake godman’s movement through his trust’s Facebook page. It was learnt that he was organising a two-hour meditation programme in Dwarka’s Samalkha on April 14. The team nabbed him on Friday. He tried to mislead the police by claiming himself to be Kamal Nayan Vashisht. Our team confronted him with his driving licence where his name was mentioned as Jaidev Kohli. He finally confessed to his crime," Randhawa said.