Rajkot: Devbhumi Dwarka local crime branch (LCB) arrested four members of a Bihar-based gang for allegedly entering homes in rural areas on the pretext of selling phenyl and cheating women by offering to clean idols of deities and gold and silver ornaments.The accused were arrested from a rented house near Milan Char Rasta in Khambhalia town. Police recovered valuables worth around Rs 89,000, including gold and silver items, seven mobile phones and motorcycles. They also seized acid, phenyl, brushes, powder, turmeric, alum, porcelain utensils and steel containers allegedly used in the fraud.According to police, the accused targeted homes in Lamba and Raval villages of Kalyanpur taluka, particularly those where elderly women were likely to be alone. They first entered the houses claiming to sell phenyl and then gained the women’s confidence by offering to clean idols of deities.After cleaning the idols, they offered to polish silver ornaments and later gold jewellery with acid, brushes, powder, turmeric and alum. During the process, they allegedly removed gold and silver from the ornaments without the victims’ knowledge.Two cases were registered at Kalyanpur police station after which district police formed teams that used human intelligence and technical surveillance to trace the accused.The arrested men are Subodhsingh Kharwa (41), Vikas Kumar Thakur (38), Santosh Kumar Singh Kuswa (34) and Aniruddh Thakur (46).
