A senior Customs official has lodged a complaint with Nhava Sheva police in Navi Mumbai stating that he was duped by a man to a tune of Rs 13.50 lakh by giving him fake British-era gold coins.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Ulwe and works at the Customs office at Andheri. On July 3, when the victim was getting his car servicing done in Ulwe, an unknown man approached him.
The said person identified himself as Raju Prajapati.
"Prajapati told the victim that he has some British-era gold coins in his possession and wanted to sell them. The accused then showed a few coins to the Customs official. The victim then to check, went to a jewellery shop where he was told that the coins were indeed of gold," the FIR filed by the victim stated.
The next day, the victim met Prajapati and two other persons, who Prajapati claimed were his brother and mother in Kalwa, Thane. Upon their meeting, Prajapati showed a pouch containing around 500 coins to the victim.
The victim asked Prajapati to give him a few coins again so that he can get their authenticity verified. The victim then showed those coins to the jeweller, who again confirmed that those were real gold coins.
After all this, the victim then informed Prajapati that he would take the coins, after which Prajapati told him that he would sell 500 coins for Rs 15 lakh and asked the victim to meet him at Bhiwandi the next day, police said.
The victim managed to arrange Rs 13.50 lakh and gave it to Prajapati on July 5 in Bhiwandi. He told Prajapati that he would arrange the remaining amount in a couple of days after which Prajapati handed him over the coins.
However, this time, when the victim again went to the jeweller in order to check the authenticity of the coins, he was shocked to learn that they were not real.
When the victim tried calling Prajapati, his number came switched off. Having realised that he had been duped, the victim approached the police and got a complaint lodged on Saturday.
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