Trio who paid Rs 32 lakh in fake notes to buy 1 kg gold arrested

Three men, who allegedly duped a city-based jeweller by paying him Rs 32 lakh in photocopied banknotes, were arrested by police on Wednesday.

The suspects had given photocopies of 2,000-rupee notes to buy one kg of gold on the busy KG Road in the heart of Bengaluru on April 24. Police gave their names as Vinod Tilakchand (45), Hemanth Gowda (33) and Harish Kumar (31) — all from Mysuru.

Fake identity

One of the suspects had assumed a fake identity of ‘Jugraj’, a businessman from Chikkamagaluru. He called the jeweller, Dinesh Kumar, on his mobile phone on the pretext of placing an order for one kilogram of jewellery “for his daughter’s wedding”.

Feigning preoccupation with the wedding preparations, he told Dinesh that his manager would hand over the cash to get the jewellery, police said.

Photocopies of notes

Accordingly, another suspect met Dinesh near Shikshakara Sadana on KG Road and handed over a bag containing photocopies of Rs 2,000 notes and took the delivery of gold jewellery.

He managed to divert Dinesh’s attention by engaging him in conversation and rode off before the jeweller could count the cash, police said.

When Dinesh returned to his shop and began counting the notes, he had the biggest shock of his life: they were all photocopies. He then approached the jurisdictional Halasuru Gate police station and filed a complaint.

Police tracked down the suspects based on the call detail record (CDR) and arrested them in Mysuru. They have seized the gold along with a large amount of photocopied notes, a photocopier, two cars and other accessories.

The masterminds

Tilakchand and Gowda are believed to have masterminded the plot to con the jeweller while Harish supplied them fake notes. Harish also used to print cheques, bonds and fake notes and had cases against him in Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Bengaluru, police added.