A five-member gang of cheats was busted by the City Police on Tuesday.
On the pretext of selling gold at cheap prices, the gang members sold spurious gold biscuits passing them off as original ones. Those who realised their folly and sought return of their money, used to get currency bundles with white papers in between the notes. The gang members also used to rob cash from their victims if they failed to succeed in cheating them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (L & O) P. Viswa Prasad told a media conference on Tuesday.
The modus operandi of the gang was to sell 1 kg spurious gold biscuits for Rs.20 lakh. The gang contacted G Anand of Old Town area and impressed upon him to look for a person who would pay Rs.20 lakh for a kg of gold. Anand was carried away by the idea of making easy money and the huge profit he could make by selling it in the market.
Anand asked the accused to meet him at the LIC building on October 19, where he would introduce a buyer. On October 19, both Anand and the accused waited for the buyer at LIC building but the latter failed to turn up. Suspecting Anand’s motive, the accused beat him up and fled the place after taking away Rs.10,000 from him.
Following a complaint from Anand, the Two Town Police led by Inspector Y. Govinda Rao arrested one Satyanandam at the Railway Station on October 22. The main accused, Tippu, managed to escape after attacking CCS Inspector PVVSN Krishna Rao. On the confession of Satyanandam, the police arrested the other four accused.
The police seized seven spurious gold coins, an electronic weighing machine, magnifying glass, a cutter, a black stone used for testing gold, Rs.5,000 in cash, 36 white paper bundles, two cars and six mobile phones from the gang.
