Jeweller tricked into parting with gold worth Rs 1.7 crore by fraudsters in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Central Crime Station (CCS) police registered a case and launched an investigation after a city-based jeweller lodged a complaint accusing two individuals of defrauding him of nearly Rs 1.7 crore.The complainant alleged that the two individuals, who claimed to be jewellers, cheated him by failing to return 1.16 kg of gold he had supplied for resale.Police said the complaint was lodged by Tony Varghese, 31, a jewellery businessman from Rajendranagar, on March 6. Tony alleged that on Dec 12, 2025, one of the accused approached him claiming to operate jewellery manufacturing units near Punjagutta and Kukatpally."The businessman persuaded me to hand over about 850 grams of 22-karat gold jewellery for display and resale, assuring prompt payment or return of the goods. I agreed to the offer," the complainant told police.Police said that shortly after obtaining the 850 grams of gold, the accused informed Tony that the jewellery had been sold to a company run by a man named Gaurav Varma in Hyderabad. On Dec 14, Tony met Varma, who allegedly agreed to pay in instalments and also placed further orders.The complainant stated that between Dec 13 and Dec 23, 2025, he issued four GST-compliant invoices for a total net weight of over 1.33 kg of gold jewellery, valued at more than Rs 1.77 crore, to the accused."The invoices were accepted without objection, but when payment became due, Varma began delaying on various pretexts and later stopped responding," the complainant alleged.According to Tony, Varma neither paid for nor returned around 900 grams of gold supplied under the invoices, while 260 grams of gold remained with the other jeweller operating from Punjagutta. Tony also accused the duo of issuing threats when he pressed for payment.Double whammyIn a separate allegation, the jeweller said he faced a double whammy after being duped again allegedly by a relative of the accused, who falsely posed as an advocate and collected Rs 50,000 as an ‘advance' towards legal recovery services that were never provided.Based on the complaint and after a preliminary enquiry, CCS police registered a case against Varma under Section 316(5) (criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, merchant or agent) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita."We are collecting further evidence regarding the allegations. The case is under investigation," a CCS official said.