The city police have arrested four persons for allegedly pledging spurious gold jewellery with pawn brokers in Mandaveli and Royapettah.
According to the police, Prakash Chand, 59, runs a pawn shop on R.K.Mutt Road, Mandaveli. A few persons repeatedly pledged gold jewellery and redeemed it quickly over the last five months. On September 16, they came to his shop and pledged 23 gold coins under the pretext of raising funds to meeting an emergency. Prakash Chand also paid ₹15.31 lakh after conducting a random purity test. They left after promising him that they would redeem the coins soon. Since they did not come back as promised, Prakash Chand grew suspicious and conducted a test again on the gold, only to find that all, except nine grams, were fake. Hence, he lodged a complaint with the police.
Pattinambakkam Police registered a case and arrested two suspects identified as Vikrambagath, 58 and Sundar, 42, of Rajasthan. Police also recovered 59 grams of gold that they procured using money got from pledging spurious gold.
Similarly, Royapettah Police arrested two more suspects — Sonal, 38, of Uttar Pradesh and Bindu, 43, of Rajasthan for allegedly cheating pawn broker Seetharam, 32, who runs a shop on Lloyds Road, by pledging spurious gold and obtaining ₹2.6 lakh.
Published – October 14, 2024 10:40 pm IST