The Brave Pedestrian

12th July, 2018, Mumbai: My blog criticizing the consent terms of Sapphire Welfare Association (SWA) with Bhagtanis raised a hornet's nest. Some angry people asked whether I had any solution for getting their money back. If I didn't, I should just shut up, they said. (They also said a whole bunch of other things, but let us focus on the constructive part.) Yes, since you ask, I have specific ideas about how to get your money back. My proposed method is: Cash-and-carry (CAC). If a party's credit-worthiness is zero and he is already deep in debt, trade with them on CAC terms. Stop extending credit!  What Bhagtanis want from you now is quashing of FIR and withdrawal of complaints. What you want is your money. So you should aim to get what you want at the same time as (or before) Bhagtanis what they want -- not a day later! Like they say in movies, "Ek haath se do, ek haath se lo". Shopkeepers call it cash-and-carry. Everything else can be negotiated, but f

Mumbai, 7th July, 2018: I wrote an article yesterday disclosing the consent terms signed by Sapphire Welfare Association (SWA) with Bhagtani bulders. *(In case you haven't read it, click here and read it first.) Until we got our hands on these consent terms two days ago and placed it in the public domain, it was a closely guarded secret.  If consent terms is a straightforward deal, why didn't SWA announce their achievement immediately? Why were there only cryptic references such as "It is time to buy the mithai, but don't distribute it". Why keep it secret? The reason is: the consent terms are a great escape for Bhagtanis. They seek to give a clean chit and easy exit from the Sapphire cases to the absconding builders. Obvious issues in the consent terms : 1) If fugitives evading Indian judiciary sign an agreement in India through their power-of-attorney, what is its legal validity?  The consent terms signed by Diipesh Bhagtani in jail, on behalf of J

Mumbai, 6th July, 2018: When the Sapphire Welfare Association (SWA) enrolled members and filed its Civil Suit/Plaint in Bombay High Court in a rush-rush hush-hush manner, the victims of Bhagtani Sapphire were split into two groups: (1) those who believed that their intent was genuinely to help the victims and (2) those who believed that their intent was to help the Bhagtanis get their criminal cases quashed, by giving the victims a lollipop.  My personal belief (based on my one year's experience of how Bhagtani's stooges manipulate people's minds through Whatsapp groups) is that the intention was solely to help Bhagtanis to come out of their legal troubles. I believe that gullible victims were drawn into the association by showing them them false hopes and dreams. And I believe that the consent terms signed between Bhagtani and SWA on 26th July, based on which the plaint before Bombay High Court was withdrawn, is fraudulent.  Through these consent terms, Bhagtani'