Nagpur: A Head of Department (HoD) from Nagpur’s Government Polytechnic (GP), his wife, and four others have been booked by Sadar Police for duping the staff of the polytechnic and others to the tune of Rs 54 lakh by promising huge returns from ponzi investment schemes. Shockingly, the accused professor regularly organised meetings at the Government Polytechnic premises to motivate the investors.
The accused have been identified as HoD of Metallurgy Department at GP Nagpur — Kishore Lala Meshram, a resident of Plot No 180, Shree Ganesh Nagar, Koradi; his wife Vinda; Babu Kishan Hajare; Lohitsingh Darmasingh Subhedar; Vijay Jyotiram Patil, all residents of Shahupuri village in Kolhapur district; and A S Traders and Developers LLP, Kolhapur. The case was registered on the complaint of Shyamdev Gajananrao Ghatole (54), a resident of Plot No 20, New Sneh Nagar, Wardha Road, along with Krishnalal Badole, Nikhil Mankar, Pandit Nagrale, and Nitesh Choudhary.
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Friday 21 Feb. 2025
According to the police, Ghatole works as a patternmaker at Government Polytechnic, and his wife works as a Section Officer at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. The fraud started when Meshram was transferred to Kolhapur Polytechnic College and continued after his transfer back to GP in Nagpur. While working in Kolhapur, Meshram allegedly regularly phoned Ghatole and encouraged him to invest in A S Traders and Developers LLP to double his investment.
When Meshram returned to GP Nagpur in May 2020, he started pressuring the employees of GP to invest in the company. Meetings were even organised in the college canteen. They also held meetings with over 100 investors at hotels in Nandanvan, where all the other accused were present, in July 2021.
As per the scheme, a person investing Rs 3.50 lakh in the schemes becomes eligible for holidays at Dubai and Bangkok. Similarly, under the schemes, investors of Rs 15 lakh would get four-wheelers worth Rs 6 lakh; investors of Rs 25 lakh would receive four-wheelers worth Rs 10 lakh; and investors of Rs 50 lakh would get four-wheelers worth Rs 20 lakh. To lure the investors, Meshram showed the GP employees a list of investors who had received huge returns and displayed it on a computer at the GP.
Impressed by the presentation, Ghatole also started investing in the company and transferred amounts to the company. He invested Rs 36.80 lakh but received only Rs 16 lakh, so far. Meshram is defaulting on a payment of Rs 20.80 lakh, he stated in the complaint. Other complainants, Krishnalal Badole invested Rs 2.50 lakh, Nikhil Mankar Rs 7 lakh, Pandit Nagrale Rs 21 lakh, and Nitesh Choudhary invested Rs 3 lakh in the fraudulent scheme but duped of the respective amount.
After receiving the complaint, Sadar Police registered a case under Sections 34, 406, 409, 420 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Section 3 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act against Kishore Lala Meshram and others.
Victim sold land to invest in schemes
Meshram and his wife influenced Ghatole to such an extent that he sold agricultural land registered in his wife’s name at Mauda town and invested the amount in the company. However, the fraudulent scheme has left nothing in the hands of the Ghatole family.
