Ten years on, CBI arrests seer Durgesh for duping investors

Evading law enforcement agencies for over a decade, luck finally ran out of Seer Durgesh Maharaj of Badrinath who was nabbed by the CBI  on Saturday for duping gullible investors to the tune of `2.63 crore by selling forged Kisan Vikas Patras in his earlier avatar as a postal agent. A team of CBI officials arrested Durjodhan Mishra alias Durgesh Maharaj, who was living in Badrinath as a Seer.

Madhubani resident Mishra had settled in Hatgachia, Kolkata, with his wife and kids in search of greener pastures in the nineties working as an agent for postal instruments like Kisan Vikas Patra. CBI sources said Mishra came in contact with a postal assistant in Kolkata and with one more accomplice he allegedly issued 263 forged Kisan Vikas Patra worth Rs2.63 crore. 

The money collected from gullible investors was allegedly pocketed by the trio, the CBI has said.It was in 2004 that the CBI probe revealed the nexus between the three. By that time, Mishra had allegedly eloped with his family from Kolkata. The agency launched a major campaign to nab the absconders in various cases and traced Mishra’s family to Jodhpur where they had settled but there was no sign of the alleged fraudster. 

The agency mounted a round-the-clock surveillance on Mishra’s family and learnt that his wife gets regular calls in night from two numbers located in Badrinath. Both the numbers were issued in the name of women in Uttarakhand. Tracking the numbers, the agency officials camouflaged as ‘bhakts’ 

reached Badrinath to nab the fugitive. 

The agency had on June 17, 2005, declared a reward of Rs50,000 on his head. A designated Kolkata court had on September 22, 2005, declared him a proclaimed offender. The agency had registered the case on December 2, 2004, following a complaint from Postal Department, West Bengal Circle, Kolkata. 

During custodial interrogation, the Baba said he had invested the money in properties and was willing to return the money to the investors after disposing them off, sources said.