VELLORE: The Tiruvannamalai police nabbed a gang of 12 north Indians for cheating hundreds of women and stealing a portion of their gold jewels on the pretext of polishing it. They were remanded to the Vellore Central Prison for Men.
The police arrested the gang after picking up two of the members - Jagadesh Mandal (41) and Pappu Kumar (22) - for inquiry a few days ago from Thatampet village in Veraiyur Police Station limit.
On inquiry, they confessed to robbing silver and gold in small quantities from hundreds of women. Police also arrested ten of their associates, living in a rented accommodation in Tindivanam in Villupuram district.
Their modus operandi was to move from village to village and offer to polish jewels, both silver and gold.
“Using nitric acid, they would dissolve around 50 gram of silver and a little lesser quantity of gold from each piece of jewellery while polishing. The owners remained unaware of this,” said N Devanathan, Tiruvannamalai DSP (Rural) .
“They would extract the silver and gold using some chemical process, and convert them into silver and gold bars and sell them in the black market,” he added.
Police have filed a case and are searching for a few more of their associates and the kingpin of the gang.