RAJKOT: Two fraudsters in Bhuj were booked on Saturday night for allegedly cheating three Hyderabad-based traders of Rs 27 lakh by promising them of getting gold at cheaper rates.
Police said the accused, Hajivalimamad Kakkal and Altaf Jat, had taken Adarsh Jain (22), his father Anil Jain and uncle Bharat Jain, all residents of Bela locality in Hyderabad, for a ride with their dubious promise.
According to the police, Adarsh had received a friend request in July from one Rushabh Mehta on Facebook who kept gold biscuits as his profile picture. Adarsh, at that time, was studying diamond rating at an institute in Surat.
“Mehta told Adarsh that he was into gold smuggling and that he used to bring gold from Dubai and sell it with 20% discount. He introduced Jat as Pankaj Soni as his business partner and gave his number. Meanwhile Adarsh spoke to his father Anil Jain and uncle Bharat Jain, who expressed their willingness to buy the gold at cheaper rate,” said S J Rana, sub-inspector with Bhuj local crime branch.
The accused told the victims to come to Bhuj to buy the gold. Hence, the victims went to Bhuj from Hyderabad on September 18 and put up at a hotel. When the victims called Jat, he told them to come to him in an autorickshaw the next day. Next day morning, when the victims were in the autorickshaw, Jat called Adarsh and asked him to hand over the phone to the rickshaw driver. He told the driver to take the victims to the Station Road in Bhuj.
From the Station Road, the accused took the victims in an SUV to a residential society, the area the victims cannot identify, and introduced them to Kakkal as 'Mamaji'. Kakkal showed them gold biscuits and said that they would have to buy the gold at least worth Rs 42 lakhs. It was decided that Rs 27 lakh would be paid then and the remaining amount would be paid at the time of the delivery of the gold.
“The victims returned to their hotel in the SUV along with the accused, collected Rs 27 lakh and got back into the SUV. The accused drove them through different areas of Bhuj, took the cash from them and then told them to alight from the vehicle, saying that they would make the delivery of the gold in Hyderabad,” said B B Vasava, inspector with Bhuj B division police station.
After returning to Hyderabad, the victims tried to contact the accused, but to no avail. The accused had turned their cellphones off and remained incommunicado. Realizing that they had been duped, the shock proved fatal for Adarsh’s uncle Bharat Jain, who suffered a heart attack and died.
When the victims arrived in Bhuj on Saturday, the police showed the photographs of the accused to them. The victims identified Kakkal and Jat. The police said that Kakkal is a history sheeter and that they have launched a manhunt for him and Jat.