Rajkot: A gang which cheated its victims by promising them ‘cheap gold’ was busted by the Amreli local crime branch. Police were acting on a complaint filed by Vanita Chauhan on June 16 at Dhari police station, who alleged that she was cheated out of Rs 10 lakh. After the investigation began, police apprehended three accused persons — Dilip Solanki (33), Ishwar Vaghela (30) and Asif Rafai (31) — all residents of Junagadh. Police recovered Rs 9.58 lakh from them. Amreli LCB police inspector V M Koladara said, “The gang’s modus operandi involved winning trust by first giving victims a genuine gold coin. Once the victim was convinced, they were lured to another location with large sums of money and were given coins that looked like gold but were not.” The arrested trio allegedly confessed to multiple cases of cheating: the offence in the Dhari area a month and a half ago; another at Junagadh bus station a year ago, defrauding a passenger of Rs 50,000; and a third seven months ago where a person from Upleta was cheated of Rs 1 lakh. Police filed charges against Solanki for assault and against Vaghela and Rafai for fraud. A manhunt is underway for four other suspects: Rajesh alias Raju Solanki, Mohan Vaghela, Govind Rathod and Jabir Banwa.
