Indian Express

Inter-state gang of conmen busted

Express news service Posted online: Mon Nov 05 2012, 04:07 hrs
The Pune police crime branch has arrested two men and a woman from Rajasthan who they claim are members of an inter-state gang of fraudsters and had allegedly duped jewellers in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad of gold worth Rs 2.3 crore in June.

In the first week of June, the three suspects, who had stayed in a rented house in Pimple Nilakh on assumed names, decamped with 7.5 kg of gold worth Rs 2.3 crore. The suspects had called these jewellers on the pretext of purchasing gold blocks. One of the suspects had introduced himself as Viren Shah. The police identified the three as Sadhak Mangal Morzaria (27), Kisan Gokani (37) and Zarin Ahmed Meman (27), all from Jaipur.

Inspector Sunil Pawar said, “We nabbed them with the help of CCTV footage from some of the jewellery stores they had gone to.

The three are members of a gang that has cheated businessmen and jewellers from Pune, Rajasthan and Ahmedabad. We have launched an inter-state search for other gang members.”

The three had given cash to a few jewellers earlier in a bid to win their trust, police said. They bought jewellery and gold blocks. At times, they also bought gold without receipts, a police officer said. Before they decamped, they had placed orders for gold blocks, said the police.