Rachakonda Police unveils Gold Scam, arrests four scamsters at Keesara
Medipally: Like a scene reminiscent of a movie plot, the gang lures the potential gold customers with gold being offered at cheap prices, later cheating them with an excuse of non availability of stock. In between, potential buyers were deceived by a staged scene where a fictitious customer allegedly purchased all the available gold with counterfeit money, leaving the real buyers empty-handed.
Rachakonda police busted the gang and arrested four men indulging in selling fake gold biscuits. The police have recovered 5 kgs of gold- coated Biscuits, Dummy cash amounting to Rs 6.86 crores and One police constable Uniform used in the commission of offence and Rs 51 lakhs cash from the accused. The accused were identified as Karreddula Vijay Kumar,Namboori Devid Livingstone, Bogiri Sunil Ghavasker and Adigopula Om Sai Kiritee all hailing from Nellore, Andhra Pradesh.
On June 8, Medipally police of Rachakonda commissionerate received a complaint from Dileep Barfa stating that he learned about gold being available at a price lower than the market rate through his friend Singireddy Suresh, resident of Boduppal.
In May, a complainant and his friend met Karreddula Vijay Kumar and Harish in Bangalore, paying Rs 6 lakhs for 81 grams of gold. Days later, they received an additional 20 grams through Harish. Trusting them, the complainant ordered 2 kg of gold, paying Rs 20 lakhs. At month’s end, the complainant went to Bangalore and paid the remaining due amount of Rs 90 lakhs and requested the 2 kg of gold but witnessed Vijay Kumar selling 5 kg to others. After paying Rs 90 lakhs, he was told the stock was depleted and directed to Chennai, then Hyderabad. Vijay Kumar then avoided contact.After realizing that the complainant got heated he approached the police and lodged a formal complaint.
Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, Rachakonda, police commissioner Dr. Tarun Joshi said, “The accused approached gold business owners, luring them with gold biscuits at cheap prices. Falling into their trap the victims handover the money to purchase the gold. Initially to gain trust the accused provided original gold biscuits at a lesser price and claimed they purchased the gold from the customs department”.
“When victims approach them for the second time they rope in fictitious customers to stage buying and selling of fake gold biscuits with fake currency in the victim’s presence. When the victims urged for the gold biscuits, the accused claimed the gold was temporarily unavailable and would be provided in a few days. In case of arguments, a fake police officer would intervene, leading both the victims and accused to flee. Later, the accused threatened the victims and refused to return the money” added Joshi in the press briefing. All the accused were arrested and sent to judicial custody and further investigation is underway.
