Vadodara: Fraud tantrik evades prosecution for 22 years

Tushar Tere / TNN / Updated: Jul 31, 2021, 09:20 IST

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Two Barodians caught hold of a fraud tantrik, Babulal Gor, who allegedly duped people in the name of conducting rituals in Vadodara in 1999. Praveen Koradia and Dhiru Mistry hoped that Gor’s indictment will serve as a lesson for other cheats. But their wait for justice has turned 22 years and counting as the trial for the case is yet to begin! Reason? Police are yet to ‘trace’ out Gor and produce the accused before the court.

Vadodara: Fraud tantrik evades prosecution for 22 years

(Representative image)

VADODARA: Two Barodians caught hold of a fraud tantrik, Babulal Gor, who allegedly duped people in the name of conducting rituals in Vadodara in 1999. Praveen Koradia and Dhiru Mistry hoped that Gor’s indictment will serve as a lesson for other cheats. But their wait for justice has turned 22 years and counting as the trial for the case is yet to begin! Reason? Police are yet to ‘trace’ out Gor and produce the accused before the court.
On Friday, 70-year-old Koradia and 82-year-old Mistry were summoned by the court for the second time in connection with the case.
“In 2019, we got the summons for the first time, 20 years after the complaint was filed! We got to learn in the court that cops haven’t been able to trace Gor, who stays in Ahmedabad, as yet. The judge had then directed Ahmedabad police commissioner to produce the accused before the court,” Mistry said.
“We again appeared in the court on Friday but the accused wasn’t present. The judge again directed the Ahmedabad police to trace Gor and produce him in the court in the next hearing in September this year,” Mistry, a national award-winning documentary film-maker and social activist, said.

“Since 1999, I changed my residence thrice after I filed a complaint against Gor at the J P Road police station. The cops managed to trace me and serve summons, but ironically they have been unsuccessful in tracking down Gor in all these years! I hope they are able to produce him before the court in the next hearing,” Koradia, who had trapped and caught hold of the accused, said.
“In 1999, an advertisement in a local newspaper drew my attention. Gor had given an advertisement promising to solve people’s problems. He was staying in a hotel in Vadodara and so I approached him as a customer. I told Gor that I wanted to buy a lottery ticket to win a fortune,” Koradia recalled.
“Gor told me that he will help me win the lottery and demanded Rs 1,500 for conducting a ritual. We had brought cops along who nabbed him and took him to J P Road police station,” Koradia, who campaigns against superstitions, said.
“After filing FIR, Koradia was allowed to leave the police station and he has been missing since then. We will continue to pursue the case even if it takes many more years,” Mistry said.