A man was allegedly duped of Rs 72 lakh by a gang that lured him to invest in a testing device in Bhiwandi of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Tuesday.
Based on a complaint, the police on Tuesday arrested one Nurulhuda Khan (37), while a hunt has been launched for six more accused, who cheated the victim over a period of six years, an official said.
An offence under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the IPC has been registered with Shanti Nagar police station under the Bhiwandi division, he said.
According to the police, the accused lured the victim to invest in a testing device, which they said can be sold to a US-based authority for crores.
The gang collected Rs 72 lakh from the victim in various forms between 2016 and 2021, the official said.
"Rice-puller" scams are common in rural parts of the country. Gangs carrying out such scams try to convince people to invest in machines that test copper-iridium, an alloy which they claim is highly valuable for its magnetic power, and go about demonstrating this quality by "pulling rice", usually a trick involving mixing the grains with iron particles.
