Currency notes with Anupam Kher's picture: Three held with 1.8 kg of gold
Ahmedabad, Oct 16: Police on Wednesday nabbed three men allegedly involved in cheating a bullion trader by handing him counterfeit currency notes featuring the face of actor Anupam Kher to buy gold worth nearly Rs 1.5 crore.
Gold worth Rs 1.37 crore was recovered from their possession, said a release issued by the city crime branch.
The arrested trio were identified as Dipak Rajput (32) and his accomplices Narendra Jadav (36) and Kalpesh Mehta (45), all residents of Ahmedabad city, said the release.
Of the total 21 gold biscuits, each weighing 100 grams, fraudulently acquired by the accused by paying with fake notes, the crime branch recovered 18 biscuits worth Rs 1.37 crore, it said.
Four other accused, including two who are believed to be in possession of three gold biscuits, are on the run, said the release.
Earlier this month, bullion trader Mehul Thakkar filed a complaint with Navrangpura police station, stating he was tricked into accepting 26 bundles of counterfeit Rs 500 notes for 2.1 kg of gold on September 24.
The accused had contacted Thakkar with an offer to buy gold and settled on a price of Rs 1.60 crore, to be paid in cash at their `angadia' (courier service) office at CG Road.
On September 24, Thakkar's staff reached the office where three persons were already present with a cash counting machine.
Two of the them collected the gold and handed over bundles of Rs 500 notes. They then went out with the gold biscuits on the pretext of fetching the remaining Rs 30 lakh from a neighbouring office, while a third accused stayed on.
When the staff sent by Thakkar noticed the currency notes were fake, they questioned the third man, who told them he was there only to deliver the counting machine to the angadia firm.
The angadia office had been opened by the accused only two days earlier.
Probe revealed that it was Rajput and Mehta who took the gold from Thakkar's staff and then sneaked out. To conceal his identity, Rajput dressed like a Sikh, investigators said.
"Rajput and others persuaded a printing shop owner to print a large quantity of these notes claiming they will be used in a movie as a prop with Kher himself acting in the movie. Since it was not an exact replica of the original note, the shop owner did not have any suspicion," said police inspector D B Patel.
After cutting the notes and preparing bundles, they wrapped them using paper strips with SBI logo in such a way that Kher's photo remained covered, he said.
Rajput is a seasoned criminal facing five such cases of cheating and forgery in Gujarat and Rajasthan, said inspector Patel.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
