Hyderabad, Aug 10 (IANS) Hyderabad Police have arrested four persons for cheating people on the pretext of locating hidden treasure, officials said on Monday.
The sleuths of the Commissioner’s Task Force, Shamshabad Zone, in coordination with the Rajendra Nagar police, busted a racket involving cheating of innocent persons on the false pretext of locating hidden treasure (Gupta Nidhulu) buried beneath houses, a police officer said.
Police investigation revealed that the accused had cheated 11 people to the tune of around Rs one crore in different areas.
According to K.S. Rao, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Taskforce, the accused used to approach innocent and gullible people, claiming that they possessed special knowledge and could locate hidden treasure buried underground in residential premises. After digging the ground, they used to plant a sack containing coal along with duplicate gold-coated coins. Later, they absconded after stating that it would take some time to convert the coal into gold.
The accused have been identified as Mohd Munawar, Syed Ali Ashraf, Mohd Haji and Mohd Salman.
Police seized two four-wheelers, one auto-rickshaw, two motorcycles, four cell phones, 25 fake gold coins, coal, soil and puja material from their possession.
According to police, the prime accused, Munawar, was engaged in car denting and painting work. As his income was not sufficient to meet his family expenses, he allegedly hatched a plan to cheat gullible people by claiming that he had special knowledge and the ability to locate hidden treasure (Gupta Nidhulu) buried beneath their houses. He contacted his friends, who joined him in the illegal activity with the intention of earning easy money.
A case was registered against the accused at Rajendra Nagar Police Station under BNS sections 318(4), 351(2), 61(2) r/w 3(5).
The police said that it has come to their notice that, in recent times, some fraudsters have been moving around streets, villages, and towns claiming that hidden/underground treasures (Gupta Nidhulu) are available at certain places and are cheating the gullible people by making false promises.
Police have cautioned the general public not to believe or fall victim to such persons and their fraudulent activities.
–IANS
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