On Friday, Satish Vidolkar, who is currently serving as a trustee of Rashtra Sant Namdev Temple Sansthan located in Narsi Village of Sengaon tehsil, was charged with fraud exceeding Rs. 6 crores.
Narsi village, which is the birthplace of Sant Namdev, attracts devotees from various states, particularly Punjab, as Sant Namdev is known as Bhagat Namdev in Sikhism. The village is considered holy, and many followers visit the place to pay their respects. Additionally, some hymns of the saint can be found in the Guru Granth Saheb.
According to the information, there was a dispute regarding the management of the temple trust that had arisen some years ago, and the case was taken to court. In 2008, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court instructed the charity commissioner to form a committee for managing the trust's daily affairs, and Vidolkar was among the five members appointed.
The police have stated that during the period of 2008 to 2017 when Satish Vidolkar served as the acting trustee, he pretended to be the head of the trust and collected funds from different locations in Punjab. Vidolkar then issued fake receipts and engaged in fraudulent financial transactions, misusing all the collected funds.
After the matter was brought to the attention of the charity commissioner by other members of the trust, an investigation was ordered. Based on the report submitted by the committee, the assistant charity commissioner directed the trustees to file a First Information Report (FIR) against Vidolkar. Following this, Ambadas Gade, a trustee responsible for the daily management of the temple, filed a complaint with the Narsi police station, which led to the registration of the FIR. The case is now being handled by API Nagre.