Two history sheeters, namely Sadam alias Sada, and Asgar, alias Pola, of the ‘Tatlu’ gang were arrested here in Haryana, for allegedly conning people from other states, by luring them on the pretext of selling so-called ‘Mughal era gold bricks’ which they supposedly found while excavating the grounds near Havelis in Mewat and Rajasthan, reports Hindustan Times.
The police who arrested the accused near Nuh bus stand on Wednesday said that the gang members tried to dupe a 50-year-old farmer from Bihar, by tempting him to buy the so-called Mughal era gold brick, at half the market price. After the farmer realised that he has been cheated, he decided to play along and led the two into a police trap.
Ramashish Mandal, a resident of Darbhanga in Bihar, fell for the story the gang members concocted. The gang members claiming to be labourers, who dig up land for construction of a building or a well took Mandal to a deserted area where they showed him the gold brick weighing between 700 and 800 grams, wrapped in a dirty, smelly cloth. They claimed that the gold which they found while digging earth belonged to the Mughal era.
Wanting to get rid of the same, fearing the police, the gang members pretended to be disposing of the gold which was actually worth 35 lakhs in 10 lakhs. Mandal was lured by them to buy a small portion of the brick for 2.5 lakhs. “They asked me not to expose it to sunlight for 21 days. I agreed and bought a portion for Rs 2.5 lakh and returned home, Mandal told the police.
The farmer, however, in a rush to make ornaments for his daughter, decided not to wait for the 21 days as directed by the swindlers and took the piece of gold he bought, to a local village jeweller, who thereby, confirmed that it was not gold but only brass.
Though realising that he has been conned, Mandal continued to remain in touch with the gang members over the next two weeks. He told them that he wanted to buy the remaining portion and requested them to sell it for Rs 2 lakh.
On December 18, Mandal contacted the Nuh police and narrated the events, following which a trap was laid and the imposters were caught.
The accused were produced at a court on Thursday and were sent to police custody. Police had recovered a motorcycle and Rs 75,000 from their possession. A case under sections 420 (fraud), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code were registered at the Nuh police station.
Rajesh Duggal, the superintendent of police, Mewat, said that the five-member, ‘Tatlu’ gang has duped more than 200 people in the last two years. The gang members confirmed that they bought data of mobile phone numbers from agents in Delhi, Jaipur, and Rajasthan. They called the numbers at random and conned people falling in their trap.
“They have admitted having cheated people from Delhi, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Odisha and have revealed the names of three more gang members who are absconding,” said Duggal.
Earlier this month, 2 other members of the same gang, named Mubeen and Mubarik were arrested by Haryana police for duping a man from Punjab. The gang members had lured the victim on the pretext of selling a Mughal-era gold brick worth Rs 35 lakhs and had looted the money from him by threatening him with illegal weapons.
In a similar incident, police had arrested a member of the same ‘Tatlu’ gang, named Mohammad Salim Khan (25), a resident of Bharatpur, Rajasthan way back in 2013, who used to loot people from Jammu & Kashmir and Odisha by luring them on the pretext of selling them gold bricks of Mughal era found during excavations behind Taj Mahal.
