Gujarat: Businessman duped of Rs 1.3 crores with fake currencies, case registered

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], October 1 (ANI): A case has been registered against fraudsters after a bullion trader in Ahmedabad was duped of 2.1 kg of gold worth Rs 1.3 crore with fake currency notes, said police.

According to the police, on September 23, Mehul Thakkar, a bullion trader, received a call from the manager of Laxmi Jewellers, who asked him about the price of over 2 kg of gold for a third party.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, HM Kansagara, said that the manager informed Thakkar that the buyer required the gold urgently and due to a technical issue with RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), they would provide a security deposit in cash and transfer the remaining amount later.

“On September 23, a bullion trader named Mehul Thakkar, in Manik Chowk of Ahmedabad city, was asked by the manager of a jewellery shop (Laxmi Jewellers) that they wanted 2100 grams of gold. The manager called the bullion trader and said that the client was in a hurry and it would take time for them to end money via RTGS so they would send cash as security. And asked them to collect money from an ‘Angadiya’ at CG Road,” he told ANI.

The businessmen sent two of his employees to collect the money, but the cash worth of Rs 1.3 crores was found to be fake, and the accused fled from the spot. The fake notes had Mahtama Gandhi’s photi replaced by someone else’s and the Reserve Bank was replaced by ‘Resolve Bank’.

“Mehul sent two of his employees with gold to the ‘Angadiya’. They kept the cash on the table in exchange for the gold and said that it was a total of Rs 1 crore 30 lakhs in cash. When the cash was checked, it turned out to be fake. The accused escaped from the spot. When he (businessman) opened the bundle, he spotted the fake currencies without and Gandhi Ji’s image was replaced by some other, instead of Reserve Bank, Resolve Bank was written on it,” he said.

A case has been registered in connection with the case at Navrangura police station.

A team has also been formed to solve the case using CCTV footage, as well as a combination of human intelligence and technical surveillance.

Further investigation and efforts to nab the accused are underway, the police said.