Rift over misappropriation of trust funds behind incidents at Chikal Dongri

Police in Arnala have discovered that a rift over misappropriation of funds from a religious trust was behind recent incidents of ostracisation in a village near Mumbai. The trust, set up by a godman, was taken over by members of the village panchayat samiti, who were later removed when it was discovered that they were misappropriating funds. The samiti members then began ostracising and penalising followers of the godman. Several members of the samiti have been booked by police, and the ostracised families are demanding the return of fines they were forced to pay.

MUMBAI: A rift over misappropriation of a religious trust’s funds lay behind the recent incidents of ostracisation in Chikhal Dongri village near the Virar railway station, police in Arnala have found.

HT Image

The trust was set up by Nilesh Joshi, a godman based in Pandharpur who had several followers in Chikhal Dongri. After Joshi’s death in 2004, members of the panchayat samiti in the village took over its administration. But they were removed from the trust a few years later, when Joshi’s successor found out that they were misappropriating funds. After this, the panchayat samiti members cut off all ties with the trust and began ostracising and penalising Joshi’s followers whenever they met his successor or associates, said police.

On Sunday, Umesh Vaiti was ostracised from the village by samiti members as he was a follower of Joshi. He was also prevented from plying his autorickshaw. Two days later, on Tuesday, 16 members of the samiti who barged into the house of fellow villager Mangala Kewal Vaiti looking for Umesh Vaiti were booked by police. Mangala Vaiti, also a follower of Joshi, had been ostracised by the same members in 2021.

On Thursday, Umesh Vaiti, who has been in hiding since he was ostracised, visited the Arnala police to record his statement. He told police that his sister was a follower of Joshi and was ostracised from the village a few years ago, after which she shifted to Pandharpur. Umesh further told the police that whenever he met his sister, the panchayat samiti members slapped him with a fine of ₹25,000.

“Till about four months ago, I had paid ₹2 lakh in fines to the samiti members for fear of getting ostracised,” Umesh said in his statement.

All the five ostracised families are keen to return to the village and want the panchayat samiti members to return the money they had extracted as fines. “What they have done is extortion and we want back every penny that we have paid as fine as it is illegal,” said Mangala Vaiti.

Vittal Chaughule, senior police inspector at Arnala police station said they were investigating the case and calling each of the five families that had been ostracised to record their statements.

“We have not arrested any of the 16 members and are verifying all the facts,” said Chaughule, who along with the tehsildar Avinash Koshti held a meeting with villagers, requesting them to stop penalising and ostracising members of the community and live as a family.

“The only thing we can do is request the samiti members. If they still carry on this, police cases will be lodged against them,” said Koshti.