A 10-member inter-State gang, headed by one Devarakonda Sudheer of Kavali, was arrested by the police on the charge of cheating people to the tune of Rs. 3 crore by promising to sell them gold at much cheaper rates when compared to the market price.
The gangsters lured victims into believing that their gold biscuits were cheap as they were smuggled from Dubai and other foreign countries with the help of customs officials. A tightly-scripted drama was enacted in this, which eventually led to gullible persons not getting the promised ‘cheap’ gold but losing all their money.
The police said that the kingpin of the gang, Sudheer alias Ajay Reddy, started the activity from a posh building in Kavali. At first, he sold a 100 gm gold biscuit at just Rs. 2.5 lakh, which is Rs. 80,000 less than market price.
When the first customers arrived to pick up gold, some high-profile persons came in a luxury car.
The carefully enacted scene made the customers believe that they had association with customs officials and Dubai traders.
The gangsters told interested traders that only bulk sale would be possible as their Dubai parties wanted to send a consignment of 3 kg gold which would be sold at Rs. 90 lakh. Four to five traders from Guntur, Kavali, Chennai and other places walked into their trap.
Payments in Chennai
Another twist was given here, as the customers were asked to come to Chennai where, on payment of cash, they were handed over tiffin boxes supposedly containing gold biscuits. The boxes should not be opened till they went back to their respective places, which was to avoid attracting attention by the police. For the safety of customers, a member of the gang would accompany them.
As the customers, along with the gold, boarded the train, the gang sent somebody in police uniform who would act like growing suspicious about the tiffin boxes and ask questions about them. Once the customers failed to give proper replies, the man in police dress would seize the boxes and take them away.
SP B.V. Ramana Kumar said that a Guntur-based gold trader, Srikant, was cheated to the tune of Rs. 1.10 crore. As the news of arrests spread, more persons from Chennai, Bangalore and other places were coming forward to complain against the gangsters.
