Fake Gold Coin Racket: MBVV cops bust Gujarat-based interstate gang

The crime branch unit (Zone II) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police claim to have arrested three fraudsters on charges of duping a 40-year-old builder to the tune of more than Rs. 3 crore by selling him fake gold coins in April this year.

In his statement to the police, the builder said that on April 15 he met a person on the highway near Dapchari village. Pretending to be a labourer, he claimed that he had found gold coins while digging trenches for laying pipelines. He handed over two coins to check whether they were genuine. The builder got them checked by a jeweller and was told they were genuine. To reconfirm the veracity of the yellow metal, the builder took some more coins from him and found them to be genuine. Four days later both met again and this time, the builder doled out Rs. 3.12 crore in exchange for a bag full of “gold” coins at a shanty near Sakwar village.

However, the coins turned out to be fake, following which he registered a complaint with the police. Sensing the seriousness of the case, MBVV chief- Sadanand Date directed the crime branch team to conduct a parallel probe into the matter. Based on electronic surveillance and informer input a team led by Police Inspector Shahuraj Ranaware under the supervision of ACP- Amol Mandwe and DCP Vijaykant Sagar, arrested three people from Vadodara in Gujarat for their involvement in the crime.

The police also recovered Rs. 2,18, 95,000 from the possession of those who have been identified as Kisan Salaat, Haribhai Salaat and Manish Shah. The accused are said to be members of an inter-state gang who have duped several other people using a similar modus-operandi. Further investigations were underway.