Palm off several kilos of cast iron jewellery by assuring it is old gold from treasuries of Tipu Sultan and Maharaja of Mysore

Swindlers use golden past to dupe victims

Palm off several kilos of cast iron jewellery by assuring it is old gold from treasuries of Tipu Sultan and Maharaja of Mysore

Fraudsters Shyam Kumar (27), Mehboob Pasha (25) and S Ravi S (40) knew that history has its uses.

The three friends from the Gauribidanur village of Tumkur district, who were arrested on Monday, allegedly palmed off several kilos of fake gold to victims who were told that the precious metal came from the treasuries of Tipu Sultan and the Maharaja of Mysore.

They purchased some iron from a local market and got a local blacksmith to craft ornaments with an antique look and had them polished golden. The ornaments were buried for a few days so people would believe that the gold was old.

They marked their victims by monitoring frequent visitors to the shops of jewelers. "The victims were told that the descendants of the royal families were facing a financial crunch.

They wanted to sell off the gold without informing government officials. They charged Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for one piece of jewellery," explained Inspector Wali Basha of the Shankarapuram police station.

The victims who were consumed by greed would ask for proof that the gold was original. "The victims were given a small piece of real gold that the victims would check with a jeweler. Convinced that the gold was for real the victims would buy gold from the gang," Basha added added.

The gang would change locations to avoid arrest.

A fortnight ago, S Bahubali of Bangalore bought two chains from the gang for Rs 5 lakh. His wife got the gold examined by a gold valuer who confirmed that it was fake.

Bahubali filed a case against the fraudsters in Shankarapuram police station, who contacted other police stations and discovered that the gang had duped people in similar fashion for some months.

On Monday, the gang was finally caught. The police recovered 4 kg of fake gold and Rs 2 lakh in cash from the gang.

Police said that the men had interstate links and have cheated over 100 hundred people to the tune of Rs 70 lakh. "The police in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Calcutta were also hunting for this gang," said Basha.

Inspector Wali Basha of the Shankarapuram police station, said, "We yet to interrogate the gang.

This is a big fraud. These men were involved in many cases, including murder and robbery. We have informed the interstate police too. They have duped over 20 people in Bangalore alone."

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Number of years for which swindlers Shyam Kumar (27), Mehboob Pasha (25) and S Ravi S (40) have been jailed in the past

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