Five held with fake amulet in Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Five people, including a woman, were arrested in Delhi for cheating several people of crores of rupees on pretext of providing them a non-existent amulet known as a “nagmani” or “cobra pearl”, police said Sunday.

Vidyut Kumar Banerjee, 42, Abu Bakka Mandal, 53, Sanjit Pal, 36, Satender Kumar Singh, 44, and their woman associate Kiran Lohia, 40, were arrested Saturday near New Delhi Railway Station following a complaint by Abdul Wahid, a businessman.

The racket, which has been running for last three years, has cheated several people in different parts of India – Jodhpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. They duped them of crores of rupees, police said.

“They lured Wahid Aug 25 on pretext of providing him ‘cobra pearl’ in Rs.2 crore. They took one lakh rupees in advance. They demanded remaining money for the final deal on Sep 1 near the New Delhi Railway Station,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Devesh Chandra Srivastva said.

“Wahid became suspicious of their activities. He contacted a police team patrolling there and the culprits were arrested,” Srivastva said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they work for a Kolkata-based company and are directed by Dhingan who deals in such type of fake precious items.

Banerjee and Lohia used to test the originality of the items to impress the buyer and the other three people used to display the uniqueness of the items to trap byers.

“While displaying the ‘cobra pearl’ to the customers, they used to put it in a golden box already fitted with cotton and a small electric bulb. With the help of a remote, hiding in their pocket, they used to switch off and switch on the bulb which looks like the sparkling of ‘cobra pearl’,” said Srivastva.

IANS 2012-09-02 18:40:47