Mumbai:
Self-proclaimed godwoman Radhe Maa, who has been battling charges of instigating a woman's in-laws to harass her for dowry, found herself at the receiving end of a much more serious allegation yesterday: that of driving four farmers to suicide.
A complaint filed in the Kandivli Police station yesterday alleged that Radhe and two of her accomplices had fooled a farming family of seven in Gujarat by taking nearly Rs 1.5 crore from them to ensure that peace and prosperity reigned in their house.
Four of the farmers, who had paid the money over a period of time by selling off their lands, had committed suicide last year after realising that they had been fooled and had lost their money.
In the four-page complaint, filed by Ramesh Joshi, president of Dharm Rakshak Maha Manch, claimed that Radhe was making money by fooling innocent people into believing that she could turn around their lives and make them prosperous.
"After reports surfaced in the media (about Radhe's alleged role in the dowry harassment case), I contacted people in Nigar Village in Kutch in Gujrat where I had heard that four people had committed suicide because of her. I went to Kutch last week and collected information about that incident.
I have come to know that in March 2014, four out of seven people, who had paid more than R1.5 crore to Radhe Maa and her accomplices, Sonal and Balaran Das, committed suicide," said Joshi. "I have filed a complaint with the police and demanded that the self-proclaimed godwoman Radhe should be held responsible for these four suicides.
They paid her money after selling everything, including their land, which was their bread and butter," Joshi added. Radhe, who returned to Mumbai yesterday, said she was out of town for a family event and did not talk about the dowry FIR that had been filed against her. The Mumbai police also issued summons to Radhe and the other persons named in the FIR for recording their statements.