Pune: A 27-year-old accountant working with a leading automotive company in Pimpri Chinchwad fell prey to a ‘cheap gold bait’ and lost Rs10 lakh to a gang of conmen on Tuesday.The accountant exhausted his and his father’s savings and borrowed money from relatives and friends to buy half a kilogram of gold at a cheaper rate. He handed over the money to the gang near Mukai Chowk in Ravet. After reaching home, when he checked the gold beads, he found that what he believed to be gold was actually brass. The accountant then approached the Ravet police and lodged a complaint.Senior police inspector Hrishikesh Ghadge of Ravet police said the complainant stays in the Parvati area and is originally from Raichur district in Karnataka. In July this year, when he was coming out of a bank near his house, three people, including a woman, approached him. “The trio told him they were from Karnataka and possessed gold and silver coins. The men told him they wanted to sell them as they needed money for their sister’s marriage,” Ghadge said.The officer said they told the accountant that they would sell the gold to him at a cheaper rate. The accountant initially did not accept the offer. However, he shared his cellphone number with them. “The trio contacted the accountant and met him on Dehu Road and in other parts of the city. They pursued him to buy the gold. They gave him two beads and told him to verify whether they were pure gold,” the officer said.Ghadge said the complainant got the beads checked by a jeweller and found that they were made of pure gold. He then decided to buy the gold from them and contacted the trio. They told him they had half a kilogram of gold beads and finalised the deal for Rs10 lakh. “The accountant exhausted his and his father’s savings, borrowed money and collected Rs10 lakh in cash. The trio met him on a footpath near Mukai Chowk on Tuesday evening. They took the cash from him and handed him half a kilogram of gold beads,” Ghadge said.The officer said the accountant went home and checked the purity of the gold again, only to find that the beads were made of brass. “He tried to call the accused, but their cellphone numbers were switched off. He then came to the police station and lodged a complaint,” the officer said. The Ravet police are searching for the three-member gang.
