Mumbai: Colaba residents Desperately seeking Ramdas Thorat

David Sassoon Library

Ramdas Thorat, Colaba resident and current assistant honorary secretary at the prestigious David Sassoon Library and Reading Room, (DSL), Mumbai's oldest public library, is being sought out by a number of individuals who claim they have been duped by him of money they gave him as 'loans' . Thorat's 'victims' are Colaba residents, too, and they are now trying to trace him. He has been missing from the library for a few months now.

Arvind Rane who lives in Colaba and owns a security agency had written a letter to David Sassoon Library secretary Swati Kapadia on , December 8, last year.

Ramdas Thorat, is currently untraceable

Excerpts from his letter say:
'I would like to draw your attention to Ramdas Thorat who was working in my security agency as an accountant. His job was to look after my staff payments, pay GST, sales taxes, PF, ESIC and hand bills, etc. As I trusted him, I used to hand over all the money to him for this. He never paid the money on time to the particular department and used the money for his personal problems. At last, I terminated his services. Last year, he used my Rs 2 lakh without informing me. When I asked, he accepted that he used my money for his personal problems. Then, he paid back half the amount by cheque but never returned the other half. I am suffering a total loss of Rs 4.5 lakh as penalty to various government departments."

Like the other victims, Rane, too, claimed in his letter that Thorat was "not traceable" at his address. He says in his letter, "His mobile is switched off." The letter ends with Rane saying, "I request you to please inform me whenever he comes to the library."

Prashant Vengurlekar and Arvind Rane, whom Thorat has allegedly duped

Stressed out
Rane said, 'I have been very stressed out as a result of the penalties. My name has been sullied, too. The David Sassoon library is not directly responsible but Thorat is an office-bearer and I have sent them a letter which they have accepted. On December 11 last year, Kapadia wrote back to Rane referring to his December 8 letter, stating, "This is to inform you that your letter will be placed before the members of the managing committee in the meeting for necessary compliance."

For Thorat's former friend Amit Parab who lent him Rs 6 lakh in 2006, as Thorat wanted to start a business, it has been a bitter lesson. Parab said, "Thorat is silver-tongued and extremely slick. He has now supposedly gone 'missing' after promises to pay back. We have to double or efforts to find him in Pune or Ahmednagar wherever he is rumoured to have disappeared to. The victims do not currently want to get into the rigmarole of a police complaint.

Whopping sum
Victim Prashant Vengurlekar, a Colaba resident, is currently in Denmark. He said over the phone, "Ramdas Thorat has cheated me of Rs 20 lakh. which he had borrowed in 2010 as a 'friendly loan'. Vengurlekar has written a letter to DSL titled: 'Cheating by office bearer Mr Ramdas Thorat' in December 2018. An excerpt from Vengurlekar's letter says, "Last March 2018, I had come to Mumbai. Whenever I used to call him he used to call me to the library and always promised to pay but never did.'

The letter explains that Thorat does not reside at the address mentioned in the notary and his mobile is always switched off. It ends by requesting the library to intimate his (Vengurlekar's) younger sister P Bhosle who has also signed the letter on his behalf.

P Bhosle said, "My brother did threaten to go to the police some years ago, but Thorat threatened to commit suicide. As a result Prashant did not file a complaint."

Colaba native
The trio who claims to be duped lives in Colaba, "where Thorat used to reside, too. He had a small business in the area. He also used to give tuitions to schoolchildren," they said. Thorat is married and has two children. Both Parab and Prashant rue the strain this has caused in their homes and the pressure it has put on their families.

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