Mumbai: Thane businessman duped of Rs 13.5 lakh, accused on the run

Thane: A businessman from Kalyan here was duped to the tune of Rs 13.5 lakh by five persons under the pretext of selling him golden coins, which the accused claimed to have recovered during digging at a construction site, police said on Thursday.

The Tilaknagar Police in Dombivli registered an offence under section 420 rw 34 of the IPC against the five persons including two women and have launched a manhunt for them.

According to the complaint filed by victim Jagdish Vishe, two of the accused came to his shop on May 14 with the golden coins embossed with the name and picture of Queen Victoria. They claimed to have unearthed the coins from a construction site here.

They also provided him with samples to verify if they were made of real gold. The victim who held repeated meetings with the alleged accused before the purchase, also on two occasions checked and confirmed that the sample shown to him were of gold.

Later during negotiations it was decided that the cost of the stock coins was around Rs 30 lakh and Vishe would give a part payment of Rs 13,50,000.

Accordingly, Vishe made the payment recently and took the delivery of the coins. However, when he once again went to check with his jeweller, they were found to be fake and made of a mixture of metals like zinc and copper.

Having been cheated, he went to the residence of one of the accused here on May 21. To his shock, he was informed by the neighbours that the accused has already left the place.

Police identified the accused as Raju, his uncle, his brother, his wife and his sister, all of whom are at large.