HYDERABAD:Four police constables and a former cop, who was removed from service, were arrested by Osmania University police on Tuesday for cheating a businessman to get hold of a divine stone-- Chintamani. The accused, Chileveru Venkata Rajam (38), a former constable who was removed from service, Dharavath Balu Naik (36), a constable attached to the Armed Reserve, Nalgonda, Kothapalli Rajugopal (40) constable attached to Central Police Lines (CPL) Amberpet, Malothu Srinu Naik (35) a constable attached to the first battalion and Yedalapally Raju(38), a constable with City Armed Reserve (CAR) head quarters in Hyderabad, were nabbed while trying to sell the stolen property.
The five posed as Task Force officials and tried to sell the stone to Balakrishna Murthy, father of the owner of the stone, who identified the same and approached the police.
The family of Karturi Rama Krishna(34), who owned the divine stone, hails from Gopalapuram village in West Godavari. According to the police, the family was going through a lean patch in business.
They had taken a loan from a financier Ramreddy.
Unable to overcome the financial crunch, the family decided to sell the Chintamani stone - a medicinal stone --which has been in their possession for over 7 generations.
They came to Meerpet in Hyderabad and rented a house to sell the stone.
They were introduced to one advocate Kareem alias Rasheed who promised to fetch Rs 25 lakh for the stone.
However Kareem hired the accused and staged a robbery drama near Osmania University.