HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police arrested four people on Thursday and busted a racket of selling gold-coated brass biscuits under the guise that they are made of gold. The police seized 11 fake gold biscuits weighing 5.85 kg and Rs 8 lakh cash from the arrested accused.
The main accused had duped a man by promising to unearth gold biscuits through ‘black magic’ in exchange for Rs 5 lakh.
Interestingly, after being duped, the victim joined forces with the accused and started cheating other people under the guise of selling them gold biscuits at low prices.
The racket came to light after a man, who was duped by the gang into buying the fake gold biscuits, approached the police.
According to the police, the mother of one of the accused, Mirza Abbas Ali Sajjad, had recently told him of a dream she had of a hidden treasure. She told him that if there isn’t a treasure, she will die.
Sajjad then contacted Syed Dasthagiri Ahmed, a rural medical practitioner, notorious for claiming to perform black magic, through the other accused Abdul Faheem, Shaik Hafeez and Ali Akber Tayyabi.
Ahmed assured Sajjad that he will unearth the treasure and demanded Rs 5 lakh. Sajjad paid him Rs 3 lakh and promised to pay the remaining amount after getting the treasure.
On the day of puja, Ahmed dug a pit in Sajjad’s house, placed gold-coated brass biscuits that were wrapped in a cloth when the latter was not looking, and then covered the biscuits with soil.
While performing the puja, Ahmed unearthed the biscuits and told Sajjad’s family to not unwrap the biscuits until further instructions. Ahmed said if they unwrap the biscuits, they might even die.
However, Sajjad unwrapped the biscuits and found that they were not made of gold. When he had questioned Ahmed, the latter replied that since they opened the cloth before the stipulated time, the gold has turned into brass.
After learning he was cheated, Sajjad joined Ahmed and started cheating gullible people under the guise of selling gold biscuits at low prices.
Victim joins forces with accused
After being duped, the victim, Mirza Abbas Ali Sajjad, joined forces with the accused and started cheating other people by selling them fake gold