Fake jewellery gang from Meerut busted in Virar

The gang approached senior citizens and sought help to sell their gold and offered hefty commissions for it

Mumbai: A gang from Meerut, including a 63-year-old woman, was arrested for allegedly duping senior citizens from south Mumbai by giving them fake jewellery. The accused are identified as Jividevi Parmar, Manilal Parmar, Vinay Parmar and Vijaykumar Ray.

As per the police, the gang travelled from Virar to South Mumbai and conned senior citizens. The entire heist took around four days from showing the target real gold to conning him with a bag of fake gold. (HT PHOTO)

The gang approached senior citizens and sought help to sell their gold which Jividevi, 63, unearthed from her Surat residence while digging the backyard, as per the police. In return, the four assured the victim of hefty commissions on successfully selling the ‘recovered’ gold.

All of them were arrested from Virar, where they had rented an apartment, and recovered ₹30 lakh which they had taken from their latest target.

Om Totawar, an assistant police inspector from Kasturba Marg police station said that in December a man named Naresh Kumar Jain, 63, said that he was standing at the Charni Road station with his wife when a group of men and Parmar approached him with five grams of gold.

They told Jain – a resident of Bhuleshwar – that the gold was a part of the treasure which Parmar had found in the Surat property belonging to her ancestors. “The complainant trusted the gang, as it also comprised an old woman, and got the gold checked with his jeweller who confirmed that the gold was of high purity,” said Totawar.

After three days, they called Jain and told him to meet in Borivali East near the station. After the meeting, the four accused handed him a bag of jewellery, asking him to sell the gold worth ₹30 lakh keeping ₹10 lakh as his commission. The gang then took ₹30 lakh from Jain as security.

“As Jain reached the jewellery store, he found out that the jewellery was fake,” said police sub-inspector Rahul Walunjkar from Kasturba Marg police station.

Totawar said that as soon as they received the complaint, they scanned the CCTV footage of the railway stations and got the photos of the accused. The police officers then followed the trail of their travel and reached Virar where the accused had been staying on rent. “We arrested two men from Virar who then led us to the other accused,” added Totawar.

As per the police, the gang travelled from Virar to South Mumbai and conned senior citizens. The entire heist took around four days from showing the target real gold to conning him with a bag of fake gold.