BEST bus conductor duped of fake gold jewellery, loses ₹5.5L

On October 7, a man approached him and told him that he was a labourer from Bihar working with a contractor and informed him that while digging for a pipeline in Vikhroli, he found a pot with gold and silver coins and a necklace

MUMBAI: A BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) conductor was allegedly cheated of ₹5.5 lakh by two people who sold him fake gold jewellery claiming to be found while digging a pipeline in Vikhroli.

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According to the police, the conductor, Ganesh Pednekar, 48, was posted at the Marol Pipeline bus stop. On October 7, a man approached him and told him that he was a labourer from Bihar working with a contractor and informed him that while digging for a pipeline in Vikhroli, he found a pot with gold and silver coins and a necklace.

“He told the complainant he wanted to sell the jewellery as his sister was getting married and was in urgent need of ₹8 lakh,” said the police officer from Navghar police station. He even gave the complainant two beads to check if the gold was genuine and when he checked it, the jeweller told him that it was real gold, said a police officer.

“After which they negotiated and fixed the price ₹ ₹5.5 lakh. Pednekar pawned his wife’s jewellery with a jeweller, borrowed money from his brother-in-law and paid the money to the accused, who had identified himself only as Raju. They met at a hotel in Mulund East, where they exchanged the money for the gold jewellery,” said the police officer.

Later, when Pednekar went to a nearby jeweller to check the genuineness of the gold jewellery, the jeweller told him that it was all fake. Pednekar went ahead and got it checked by another jeweller got the same answer and approached the police.

The accused have been booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.