MUMBAI: Five members of a gang from Rajasthan’s Jalore district have been arrested for defrauding a Mumbai resident of Rs 25 lakh by selling him fake gold ornaments they claimed were discovered during excavation near a temple in Nashik, police said on Sunday.The gang member Babulal Bhalaram Waghela befriended the victim, Dinesh Mehta, a 51-year-old Malad resident, by speaking to him in Rajasthani language. Waghela then told Mehta about supposedly finding 900 grams of gold ornaments during excavation behind a temple in Nashik.Waghela offered to either sell the ornaments to Mehta or sought his help in selling them. He showed Mehta some ornaments and provided gold beads as samples.After the beads appeared to be genuine gold, Mehta paid Rs 25 lakh in cash to purchase the ornaments. However, when he later had them tested by a jeweller, they were revealed to be counterfeit.Following Mehta’s complaint, police analyzed footage from over 100 CCTV cameras before apprehending five suspects from Gujarat and Virar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.The arrested gang members were identified as Babulal Bhalaram Waghela (55), Kokubai Babulal Waghela (50), Mangalaram Manaram Waghari (34), Kesaram Bhagataram Waghari and Bhavarlal Babulal Waghari.Police recovered Rs 15.45 lakh in cash from Babulal Waghela’s residence. They revealed that Waghela is a repeat offender with multiple previous cases against him.Police are currently searching for one more suspect connected to this fraud case.(With agency inputs)
