The crime branch unit (Zone II) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have reportedly arrested three fraudsters on account of cheating a 40 year old builder with more than Rs 3 crore by selling him fake gold coins in April this year.
In a statement to the police, the builder shared that on 15 April he met a person who was pretending to be a labourer on the highway near Dapchari village. The said laborer claimed that he had found gold coins while excavating trenches for laying pipelines. The labourer gave out two coins to check whether they were genuine. The builder then went to a jeweller who confirmed that they were indeed real gold. The builder took a few more coins just to be sure, and got them checked. Again, they were found to be genuine.
They met a few days later, and the builder gave them Rs 3.12 crore in exchange for a bag full of gold coins. Upon the coins turning fake, the builder lodged a complaint with the police. As the gravity of the situation was high, MBVV chief Sadanand Date asked the crime branch to take place a parallel probe into the matter.
Then, through electronic surveillance, and a team led by Police Inspector Shahuraj Ranaware under the supervision of ACP- Amol Mandwe and DCP Vijaykant Sagar, three people were arrested from Vadodara region in Gujarat for their involvement in the crime.
An amount of Rs 2, 18, 95,000 has also been recovered from the three arrested, namely Kisan Salaat, Haribhai Salaat and Manish Shah. The arrested are believed to be members of an inter-state gang who have cheated multiple other people using the same method. Further investigations are ongoing.
