Currency notes with Anupam Kher's picture: Three held with 1.8 kg of gold

Ahmedabad: Police on Wednesday nabbed three men allegedly involved in cheating a bullion trader by handing him counterfeit currency notes featuring the face of actor Anupam Kher to buy gold worth nearly Rs 1.5 crore.

Gold worth Rs 1.37 crore was recovered from their possession, said a release issued by the city crime branch.

The arrested trio were identified as Dipak Rajput (32) and his accomplices Narendra Jadav (36) and Kalpesh Mehta (45), all residents of Ahmedabad city, said the release.

Of the total 21 gold biscuits, each weighing 100 grams, fraudulently acquired by the accused by paying with fake notes, the crime branch recovered 18 biscuits worth Rs 1.37 crore, it said.

Four other accused, including two who are believed to be in possession of three gold biscuits, are on the run, said the release.

Earlier this month, bullion trader Mehul Thakkar filed a complaint with Navrangpura police station, stating he was tricked into accepting 26 bundles of counterfeit Rs 500 notes for 2.1 kg of gold on September 24.

The accused had contacted Thakkar with an offer to buy gold and settled on a price of Rs 1.60 crore, to be paid in cash at their `angadia' (courier service) office at CG Road.

On September 24, Thakkar's staff reached the office where three persons were already present with a cash counting machine.

Two of the them collected the gold and handed over bundles of Rs 500 notes. They then went out with the gold biscuits on the pretext of fetching the remaining Rs 30 lakh from a neighbouring office, while a third accused stayed on.

When the staff sent by Thakkar noticed the currency notes were fake, they questioned the third man, who told them he was there only to deliver the counting machine to the angadia firm.

The angadia office had been opened by the accused only two days earlier.

Probe revealed that it was Rajput and Mehta who took the gold from Thakkar's staff and then sneaked out. To conceal his identity, Rajput dressed like a Sikh, investigators said.

"Rajput and others persuaded a printing shop owner to print a large quantity of these notes claiming they will be used in a movie as a prop with Kher himself acting in the movie. Since it was not an exact replica of the original note, the shop owner did not have any suspicion," said police inspector D B Patel.

After cutting the notes and preparing bundles, they wrapped them using paper strips with SBI logo in such a way that Kher's photo remained covered, he said.

Rajput is a seasoned criminal facing five such cases of cheating and forgery in Gujarat and Rajasthan, said inspector Patel.