SHIVAMOGGA: Suspecting them to be kidnappers, some residents of Kallapur village caught hold of five Bengaluru men and locked them in a room here on Sunday. Upon being questioned about the reason they were in the village, the men revealed to their captors that they had been foxed into entering the village in search of hidden treasure.
The five men have been identified as Murthy, Satisha, Avinash, Ashok and Ajit. Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare told The New Indian Express that according to the men, a certain Manjunath collected money from them in exchange of gold coins, but handed over duplicate ones.
A police source said that Manjunath and the victims were in touch over phone for one year. Manjunath contacted the victims last month and said he had discovered a hidden treasure, which he wanted to sell secretly. He asked them to come to Shivamogga to look at the coins. When Ashok, one of the victims, turned up at the city, Manjunath showed him nine-gram gold coins.
Believing Manjunath, Ashok and the others came to the city and contacted the accused. Manjunath asked them to come to Kallapur. When four of them came to the village, Manjunath took Rs1 lakh from them and handed over a closed bag. He asked them to open the bag in front of a temple and escaped. When they opened the bag as advised, only to find that it contained fake gold coins.
It was then that the victims began looking around for Manjunath in the villages. The police was informed after the villagers locked them in a room inside a temple. A case has been registered at the Rural Police Station in this regard.