After around two months of the fraud incident, the police on Friday arrested a 40-year-old man who duped a Delhi-based jeweller of gold chains worth Rs23.31 lakh. The police have recovered the gold chains, around two dozen SIM cards and more than eight mobile phones from his possession, said Superintendent of Police Bhopal North Arvind Saxena while speaking to media persons on Friday.
Saxena said that the accused had used different identities to commit the crime and had executed the fraud by introducing himself as Vijay Kumar of Rajshree jewellers. Ramakant Chouhan is the original name of the accused and he is a resident of Balia in Uttar Pradesh.
The accused was in debts and to overcome the losses he had committed the fraud. He had made fake election identity cards and using those cards he used to take shop and apartments on rent. In the city he had rented a flat of Tulsiram Dhaketa at Marwadi road, he added.
Explaining the modus operandi, Saxena said that after the accused found that the Raj Shree is a renowned jeweller of the city he prepared fake identity card and introduced himself as brother of Raj Shree jewelers’ Anil Kumar.
He then contacted jewellers of Delhi, Mumbai, Indore and Haryana and provided them with the condition of delivering the gold jewellery in Bhopal and providing the payment of the jewellery in Bhopal itself at the time of delivery. The accused succeeded in pursuing Pinky jewellers of Delhi.
Initially the accused ordered gold chains worth Rs8.5 lakh and made the payment to gain confidence of the victim and later ordered gold chains weighing 1.10 kg worth Rs23.31 lakh. When the salesperson Vicky alias Vijay of the victim came to deliver the accused took him to a flat and when the salesperson went to bath he took the gold chains from his bag and later accompanied him to his rented shop and told Vicky to wait there. After sometime the accused switched off his mobile phone and escaped.
During the investigation when the call details of the mobile numbers were searched Ramakant Chouhan was detained and when questioned he confessed to the crime.