‘Work-from-home’ scam: Maharashtra man allegedly dupes over 8,000 women in Belagavi of Rs 12 crore
Belagavi: In a major fraud, a man from Maharashtra allegedly swindled more than 8,000 women in Belagavi of over Rs 12 crore by promising them ‘work-from-home’ jobs, before fleeing from his rented home and office in Belagavi.
A group of women recently approached the Belagavi Police Commissioner alleging that they were cheated by a man who promised them steady earnings through a work-from-home scheme involving the packing of agarbattis (incense sticks), The New Indian Express reported on Monday.
The accused, who initially identified himself as Ajay Patil, is said to have collected between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,000 from each woman under the pretext of creating an employment ID, while also requiring each participant to recruit two more women in what appears to be a chain-marketing model. Investigations later revealed that his real name is Babasaheb Kolekar, a native of Solapur, who has since absconded.
Victims quoted in the news report said the fraudulent scheme primarily targeted women associated with self-help groups. Each participant was asked to pay between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,000, allegedly as a “rental charge” for autorickshaws that would deliver incense sticks to their homes for packing and later collection.
The women were promised a monthly income of Rs 2,500 for completing the packaging work from home. They were further enticed with assurances of higher earnings if they recruited additional members into the scheme. However, when the promised payments never materialised, several women began questioning the organisers and eventually came together to file complaints with the authorities.
Laxmi Kamble, one of the victims of the scam, lost her husband recently and was seeking a work-from-home opportunity to support her family. She learned about the purported job scheme through other women in her community and joined it in the hope of earning a livelihood. “Many women got enrolled in this scheme due to mouth-to-mouth publicity. The police commissioner should take this case seriously, arrest the accused who fled to Maharashtra and help to return our money,” TNIE quoted her as saying.
Govind Lamani, an autorickshaw driver, said the mastermind of the scheme had hired six to seven autos to deliver incense sticks to women’s homes as part of the purported work-from-home arrangement. He added that his own wife had fallen victim to the fraud, losing Rs 20,000 in cash.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
