Ex-cop, 2 accomplices held for cheating gold traders of Rs 41 lakh

Karimnagar: Three persons, including a former policeman, were held for duping gold traders of nearly Rs 41 lakhs in various parts of state by deceitfully extracting cash from them.

Vanamala Tirumalaiah alias Tirupalaiah (58), a former police constable and a resident of Kurnool was arrested on Monday night along with his two accomplices - Ch Satyanarayana (45) and Vodite Srinivas Rao (45) - from Korutla town in the district, Korutla Circle Inspector Raja Shekhar Raju said.

Tirumalaiah, who was terminated from services long ago, formed a gang and started cheating gullible businessmen by impersonating as policemen.

“The modus operandi was that the gang had made fake ID cards as sub-inspectors and used to move around villages in a four-wheeler with sticker ‘police’ on it. The trio met gold traders and told them that they will supply the precious metal at a cheap rate of Rs 15 lakh per kg,” Raju said.

On a tip-off, the three accused were held and a car (Tata sumo), 31 grams of gold biscuit and Rs 3 lakh cash were seized from their possession

“They then made the traders believe their offer by showing them original gold biscuits. Traders would then carry cash for receiving the gold in return. The trio then used to tactfully receive the cash and handed over empty suitcaseto the traders and disappeared from the scene,” the officer added.

Recently, the accused trapped few businessmen in Korutla and managed to extract huge money from them after which some traders lodged a complaint with police. On a tip-off, the three accused were held and a car (Tata sumo), 31 grams of gold biscuit and Rs 3 lakh cash were seized from their possession, the inspector said.

The other two members of the gang - Shekhar Reddy and Sriram - residents of Ongole are at large and efforts were on to arrest them. During investigations, it was revealed that the gang executed four such crimes at Saroornagar, Tappachabutra of Hyderabad, Mahaboobnagar, Warangal beside Korutla and cheated traders to the tune of nearly Rs 41 lakh.

The three men were produced before a court in Korutla on Tuesday and further probe is on.