Born in the year 1912, he graduated to be a lawyer, but couldn't stick to the noble profession for too long and he soon became what he was destined to be. He had 50 different aliases.
Duping signatures wasn't any big deal for him. He duped the signatures of the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, prominent businessmen of the country Dhirubhai Ambani, The Tata's and The Birla's. He duped the signatures of the businessmen in order to take out money from their bank accounts. Paying forged cheques and demand drafts to shopkeepers was one of his regular deeds and many shopkeepers were his prey.
He wasn't a mere train duper or a chain snatcher. He was one of his own kind. He posed as an official of the Indian Government on occasions and he sold several historical monuments. He sold the Taj Mahal thrice. He also sold the Red Fort. He also went to the extreme end of selling the Rashtrapati Bhawan along with 545 sitting members.
For all his good deeds he was sentenced for 113 years in prison, out of which he served 20 years. He was in warrant from the cops of 8 states in over 100 cases. He was arrested 9 times and he managed to escape everyone. He made his last escape at the age of 84 when he was escorted to the hospital. It is also said that at that time he wasn't even able to walk properly.
He wasn't an ordinary conman. He even cheated death and even till date his date of death is not certain. His brother claims that he died in the year 2009 while his brother claims that he died in the year 1996.
He was a Robinhood for the needy. He helped several needy people from his native and would love to spend time in his native village. The residents of his native also planned to install his statue.
Word picked - Charlatan (The 04th word of the 04th column of 221st page of the Ninth Edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, published by the Oxford University Press, Delhi).
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