Five of family held for duping over 200 across country with fake gold coins

With the money they duped from hundreds of people, the family bought a 500 square yard plot in Ballabhgarh and built a five-bedroom house. The head of the family, who is also the kingpin of the racket, was known locally as the “godfather” as he helped the poor and donated generously to charity, police said

Faridabad police have arrested five members of a family who allegedly duped over 200 people from different states of crores of rupees by selling them fake gold coins, gold bricks, ornaments, and utensils after claiming that these were “Mughal-era artifacts” that were unearthed in Gujarat and Rajasthan during site excavations.

Police teams recovered 13 kilograms of “fake gold coins” and ₹1.56 lakh cash from their possession along with SIM cards and mobile phones. (Sourced)

Police said the family hailed from Gujarat and settled in Ballabhgarh, Faridabad, 30 years ago. With the money they duped from hundreds of people, the family bought a 500 square yard plot in Ballabhgarh and built a five-bedroom house. The head of the family, who is also the kingpin of the racket, was known locally as the “godfather” as he helped the poor and donated generously to charity, police said.

The suspects were identified as Pyare Lal (52), his wife Rama Devi (48), and sons Dharmender Singh (30), Rajan Kumar (25) and Nitin Kumar Lal (22). Police recovered 70 mobile phones, 200 gold coins, over 1,000 “fake gold” coins ( made of brass), and ornaments, said police.

Narender Kadian, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said the fraud came to fore after they received a complaint from a 38-year-old doctor who runs a private hospital in the city along with his wife. “The couple said a man who identified himself as Shankar visited their hospital for a consultation in February and several times thereafter. After a consultation on February 15, he claimed he had no cash on him and gave the doctor a gold coin instead. He told the doctor to sell it to a goldsmith, deduct the consultation fee, and give him back the remaining money,” the DCP said.

Kadian said when the doctor asked him why he couldn’t sell it directly, the man said he feared that the police would arrest him as he had no receipt to show that he “purchased the gold coin”.

“He gave the doctor two gold coins over the next few visits, and later brought along his wife for a checkup. That time, they gave the doctor four gold coins. The doctor couple got curious and asked them about the source,” Kaidan said.

“The man said they have thousands of gold coins at home, that his father had bequeathed him before his death. He claimed that his father came across the hoard of gold while excavating his land in Gujarat and Rajasthan for construction purposes. He said his father asked him to sell them one by one as otherwise, authorities would seize the coins and deposit them in the government treasury,” said the victim requesting anonymity.

The doctor couple got the coins checked by a goldsmith, who confirmed that they were pure gold, said police.

Police said the doctor’s wife then asked him to buy a few of gold coins from the man as he was ready to sell them for way less than the going rate of gold. They struck a deal for 10 coins with the man, and the doctor couple again got them by a goldsmith and ascertained that they were pure gold. “The doctor offered to buy 200 coins and paid the man ₹40 lakh near the Sector 59 Noida Metro station on March 2, around 4pm,” Kaidan said.

On March 15, the couple wanted to get some ornaments made for a relative’s wedding and went to their goldsmith with 20 coins. They were shocked when told that the coins were made of brass, said police.

Initially, they did not disclose the fraud to anyone fearing ridicule for having fallen prey to such a scam. “My wife later pressed me to lodge a police complaint. In end-June, we finally registered a case in Faridabad,” the doctor said.

A case under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (common intention) and 120 B (conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code was registered, said police.

Kadian said they formed a team led by Narender Sharma, sub-inspector (NIT crime unit), and he started scanning the CCTV footage from the hospital and elsewhere to identify the suspects.

Sharma said constables Naresh and Puneet scanned footage from over 350 CCTV cameras, questioned over 400 people to zero in on the suspects. “We got two blurry images of the suspects, but those were enough to start looking for them. Based on technical surveillance and intelligence gathering we reached Pyare Lal’s home in Ballabhgarh,” he said.

“The police team, in plainclothes, kept a watch on the family and also tailed them. Before they could dupe another doctor couple in Noida, they were arrested on Thursday,” said Sharma.

During questioning, suspects admitted to having duped many -- at least 200-- in a similar manner across various states. Kadian said police teams recovered 13 kilograms of “fake gold coins” and ₹1.56 lakh cash from their possession along with SIM cards and mobile phones. “The suspects used to get the coins made from Bihar and bought SIM cards from the north-east in bulk. They kept changing their numbers and phones,” he said.

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