BENGALURU: Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths have arrested eight persons for allegedly cheating public in ‘rice puller’ metal scam claiming that it had copper iridium metal which is used by aerospace organisations. The accused had booked the hotel and convened a meeting with the victims. The accused had collected around Rs 35.30 lakh from the victims. The money has been recovered. The CCB sleuths have filed a case against the accused in the jurisdictional Halasuru police station.
The accused are Rajesh, 36, Mohammad Ghouse Pasha, 52, Stephen alias Nayeem, 38, Sahil, 37, Srinivas, 35, Vikas, 27, Kumar, 29 and Sri Valsan, 42.
The victims had given the money to buy the rice pullers from the gang members. After obtaining the money from the victims from a reputed hotel on MG Road, the accused had gone absconding. The accused neither gave any rice pullers nor returned the money, after which the victims approached the police.
The accused had convinced the victims that the rice pullers which were with them would cost some crores of rupees. The victims were convinced that they could become rich overnight with such rice pullers, as the device ran on nuclear energy and was in high demand in international markets. They cheated the victims stating that the rice pullers, which would cost Rs 5 crore, can be sold for a lesser price by them.