Failed honour among thieves helps police crack fraud

A year-and-a-half after 65-year-old Bholanath Yadav was conned of Rs34 lakh by six fraudsters, the Ghatkopar police have finally arrested three of them. The cops cracked the case after one of the accused, who broke away from the group, tipped off the police about their whereabouts.

Hari Bikaram Solanki, 21, Bikaram Solanki, 45, and Babulal Ramlal Rathod, 40 have been booked for cheating. Two other accused — Hiri Lalo Parmar and her son Raju Parmar — are absconding.

According to the police, in January 2007, the group pretending to be mine workers conned Yadav into buying fake gold coins for Rs34 lakh.

Yadav, owner of Shivkrupa Fast Food in Ghatkopar (west), said, “One day the group came to my restaurant for lunch but  didn’t have money to clear the bill. One of them  gave me two gold coins and asked me to sell them. They told me the got the coins from the gold mines of Bhuj in Gujarat, where they worked.”

The group then sold Yadav 15kg of gold coins at a quarter of the market price.

However, Yadav later discovered that the ‘gold’ coins that he had bought were made of brass.

“One of the gang members had a rift with the group, probably because he wasn’t happy with his share of the money. He was the one who called us and informed us of their whereabouts,” said inspector Uttam Kolekar.

The police have recovered Rs7 lakh cash from the gang’s residence in Delhi.