Surat: Vesu police have registered a cheating case against two persons, including a Mumbai resident, after a city-based land broker was allegedly duped of Rs 9.54 lakh in a fake gold deal that promised the precious metal at a price below the market rate.According to the complaint, Rajababu Jogu (30), a land broker from Surat, was introduced to the scheme in Dec 2025 while visiting the office of his friend Amol Dawle at Devansh Taxi Service in Vesu. There, he met Manish Pal, who allegedly claimed to have contacts capable of supplying gold at a rate 3% below the prevailing market price.After Jogu expressed interest, Pal allegedly introduced him to Mumbai-based Atul Patel. The latter reportedly offered to arrange gold worth around Rs 9 lakh and demanded an advance payment to finalise the deal.On December 16, Jogu travelled to Mumbai with Pal and met Patel at a restaurant in Borivali. Following the meeting, Jogu returned to Surat and allegedly transferred Rs 1.55 lakh through an angadiya service to Patel. He later transferred another Rs 2.10 lakh to a bank account provided by the accused.According to the complaint, Jogu again travelled to Mumbai on Dec 19 and handed over Rs 5.90 lakh in cash to Patel at a hotel. He also transferred an additional Rs 98,500 to the accused’s bank account, taking the total amount paid to Rs 10.53 lakh.After receiving the money, Patel allegedly asked Jogu to wait for 10 minutes for the delivery of the gold. However, he never returned. When repeated attempts to contact him failed, Jogu grew suspicious and tried reaching Pal, who allegedly did not provide any satisfactory response.Jogu subsequently contacted the cybercrime helpline (1930) and managed to get Rs 98,500 frozen. However, efforts to recover the remaining amount proved unsuccessful.He later approached police and lodged a cheating complaint against the accused.
