Vegetable vendor arrested from UP for stealing ₹81.50-lakh contingency fund

“A case was registered in May 2022, however, the accused – identified as Shivkumar Jaiswal – was absconding and kept changing locations,” said a police officer. “He was finally arrested from the Lat Ghat area in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh.

Mumbai: A vegetable vendor was arrested on Thursday for allegedly fleeing with ₹81.50-lakh cash collected by around 16 local vegetable and fruit vendors as a contingency fund during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the complainant, Pradeep Kumar Vaishya, in October 2021, Jaiswal and three others approached him and said that they were small vendors and the pandemic had shown them difficult days and therefore, to tackle such financial uncertainties, they should come together and create a fund which could be availed of by any one of them in case of emergency in his or her family. (HT PHOTO)

“A case was registered in May 2022, however, the accused – identified as Shivkumar Jaiswal – was absconding and kept changing locations,” said a police officer. “He was finally arrested from the Lat Ghat area in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh.

According to the complainant, Pradeep Kumar Vaishya, in October 2021, Jaiswal and three others approached him and said that they were small vendors and the pandemic had shown them difficult days and therefore, to tackle such financial uncertainties, they should come together and create a fund which could be availed of by any one of them in case of emergency in his or her family.

“They also told me that in future, we could create a cooperative credit society with the collective fund. There was no compulsion for anyone to contribute a specific amount and so, I started contributing ₹800 daily to the fund,” Vaishya said in his complaint. He added that he had lost ₹8.5 lakh in the entire episode.

“As he was from our village in Uttar Pradesh, we believed him. So far, 16 people have lodged police complaints that they have been cheated to the tune of ₹81.50 lakh in all. But several others are yet to approach the police. We have learnt that Jaiswal had started a hotel in UP,” Vaishya said.

Jaiswal was booked for cheating and criminal breach of trust.

“We are happy that the cops have caught him. I have also invested ₹3 lakh. All our vendors from the Khar Market and Mahim area like vegetable and fruit vendors and some milk vendors had invested with him,” said Nilesh Jaiswal, another vendor.