Agra trader dupes villagers of 630 kg silver worth ₹17.3 cr, case filed

Agra: A trader in Agra duped 35 villagers of nearly 630 kg silver -- worth around Rs 17.3 crore – after borrowing the metal by promising good returns, police sources told TOI on Monday.A case was filed in the matter following a complaint by one Om Prakash Chaudhary, a resident of Nagla Sikurra village under Sadabad police station of Hathras district.In his complaint addressed to Agra police commissioner Deepak Kumar, Chaudhary said:“I have known Rahul Kumar Jain, his father, Sampat Kumar Jain, and brother Sambhav Jain since 2005, and the allegedly convinced me to arrange silver on credit from villagers. They promised to return either the metal or its equivalent value once his business stabilised. Acting as a guarantor, I facilitated silver loans from over 35 villagers, totalling 630 kg over a period of 20 years,” Chaudhary said.When the lenders demanded repayment, Jain reportedly kept delaying it. On April 10, when villagers visited his residence in Agra’s Shanti Nagar, they found the house locked. Local residents informed that Jain, along with his wife and children, had fled on April 5.Following directions from the commissioner, the Kamla Nagar police have registered an FIR against seven, including Rahul Jain and his family members, under BNS Section 316 (2) (criminal breach of trust). ACP (Chatta circle) Sheshmani Upadhyay on Monday said efforts were on to arrest the accused.Meanwhile, traders in Agra told TOI that nearly 80% of silver transactions are conducted on oral agreements or informal records, making the trade vulnerable to fraud. With silver prices currently hovering around Rs 2.75 lakh per kilogramme, payment for metal borrowed earlier has become significantly costlier.