Kanpur (UP), Dec 5 (PTI) Three gold smelters were booked in this district on Tuesday for allegedly duping a jeweller of Rs 1.6 crore, police said.
About a dozen more victims have also submitted written complaints with the police against the three who allegedly decamped with gold and cash worth over Rs 14 crore from the Kanpur city.
The FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) against Sampatrao Shivaji Lavate, key accused, his brother-in-law Mahesh Maske and their associate Suraj, who have are on the run, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Nilabja Choudhury said.
The incident has triggered panic among local jewellers who accompanied with the office bearers of Kanpur Mahanagar Sarafa Association (KMSA) apprised police officials about the huge fraud.
An Special Investigation Team has been formed under supervision of DCP (Central) Pramod Kumar who has been instructed to ascertain early arrests of the absconding fraudsters and to recover the gold and cash, the JCP added.
The jeweller, Mohammad Ayub, in his complaint stated that he along with his family members had given the gold weighing 2,600 gram worth more than Rs 1.6 crore to Lavate to sell it just a few days back.
Lavate had issued him several cheques for Rs 31 lakh with the promise to pay the rest amount on Monday, but he found his shop closed, Choudhary said.
KMSA president Pankaj Arora told the media that Lavate, a resident of Maharashtra, had hired a rented house in Birhana Road around 15 years ago and had been running gold smelting business from a rented shop in Beckonganj.
Since he was good at his work, all the nearby goldsmiths used to send their goods to him for melting the gold, he said.
DCP Pramod Kumar told PTI over the phone that the SIT has started a probe into the matter.
Efforts are being made to gather information about the fraudsters to ensure their arrests at earliest, the DCP added.