Hyderabad: Four held for cheating people with ‘hidden treasure’ scam

Hyderabad police busted a racket allegedly cheating people by promising to locate hidden treasure beneath their houses. Four persons were arrested and 25 duplicate gold-coated coins, coal, soil and puja material were seized. The gang allegedly cheated 11 people.

Hyderabad: The Task Force (Shamshabad) along with Rajendrangar has busted a cheating racket in which unsuspecting people were allegedly duped on the pretext of discovering hidden treasure buried beneath their houses.

Four persons were arrested in connection with the racket and police seized 25 duplicate gold-coated coins, 6 kgs of coal, 4 kgs of soil and pooja material from them.

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The arrested persons were identified as Mohd Munawar alias Munna, a car denting and painting worker from Gudimalkapur, Syed Ali Ashraf, an electrician from Jawaharnagar Mohd Haji, an autorickshaw driver from Jawaharnagar and Mohd Salman, a bike mechanic from Keesara.
According to police, Munawar, who was struggling to meet his family expenses through his regular work, allegedly devised the plan to make easy money by convincing people that he possessed special knowledge to locate ‘Gupta Nidhulu’ (hidden treasure) buried underground.

He allegedly roped in his associates Ashraf, Haji and Salman, who agreed to join the operation. The group then approached unsuspecting people and claimed they could identify locations where gold and other valuables had been buried.

As part of their alleged deception, the suspects would dig up the ground at a targeted house and secretly plant a sack containing coal and duplicate gold-coated coins. “They would later tell the victims that the material needed time and special rituals to be converted into gold.

They would then flee from the location, leaving the victims waiting for the promised transformation,” police officials said.
Officials said the gang had allegedly cheated at least 11 people in different areas, with the total amount involved estimated at around Rs 1 crore.

A case has been registered at Rajendranagar Police Station and being investigated.