Hyderabad jeweller lodges police complaint after 1 kg gold bar pledged by acquaintance turns out to be brass

Cleared: dkHyderabad: Posing as an associate of a city-based woman entrepreneur, a fraudster, Srinath Rathi, misappropriated about 750 grams of gold worth about 1 crore from the proprietor of a jewellery store in Banjara Hills. On the victim's complaint, Banjara Hills police have registered a cheating case and launched a manhunt for the accused.According to the police, the 40-year-old woman jewellery store owner received a WhatsApp call on Feb 17 from an unknown number. The caller, introducing himself as ‘Ankit Rathi', claimed to work for a woman entrepreneur and proposed a partnership to provide jewellery in exchange for cash and gold. Trusting the name-drop, the victim agreed to the deal.Over the next week, Rathi, assisted by his associates Krishna and Manoj, executed a series of exchanges. On Feb 19, the victim's staff delivered a 166 gram gold necklace to Krishna at a star hotel in Somajiguda, collecting two blank cheques as security. The following day, a 170 gram gold biscuit was delivered at the victim's shop, and gold bangles and ornaments weighing 364 grams were taken.Police said 75,000 was deposited in the victim's company account on Feb 21 to keep up appearances. The next afternoon, Krishna brought 250 grams of raw gold to the victim's residence and left with 507 grams of gold jewellery. On Feb 23, Rathi met her at a star hotel in Madhapur, collected 1,036 grams of gold ornaments, and handed over a 500 gram gold bar. On Feb 24, he called the victim to a restaurant in Banjara Hills and gave her 9.5 lakh in cash.The fraud came to light on Feb 25, when a 1.8 kilo gold bar delivered by him at a star hotel in Banjara Hills turned out to be brass when she tested it later in the day. As Rathi stopped answering her calls, she went to his house in Kachiguda and found it locked. Claiming that Rathi's family stonewalled her when she approached them about his whereabouts, the victim lodged a complaint with the Banjara Hills police on Thursday (Feb 26) night.Police booked Srinath Rathi, Krishna, Manoj, and others under Sections 316(2) (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating), and 319(2) (cheating by personation), read with 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. "The accused is absconding. Our team is trying to track him down," Banjara Hills inspector S Suhasan said.