On Wednesday, Gurugram Police arrested two more women regarding the ‘cheap gold coin’ fraud, and this is helping them to investigate a gang operating across several states. This gang is accused of taking 2.49 crore rupees in cash and 50 tolas of gold from a Gurugram exporter. The women were brought to court based on arrest warrants and are now in police custody for questioning.
Two more arrests deepen ‘cheap gold coin’ probe
The two women had been in Kota jail in Rajasthan for something else, and police used production warrants to get them. They are believed to be linked to Solanki Prabhubhai, a film producer from Gujarat, and police consider him the gang leader.
After the women appeared in a Gurugram court on Wednesday, the investigators got permission to hold them for two days to ask them about what they did and who else is involved with the network.
Who are the accused
Police have named the accused as Teju Gangaram Rathore, 45, from Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh, and Solanki Shantiben, 42, from Vadodara district in Gujarat.
A first look at their history shows that both have been arrested before. Teju is a suspect in two fraud cases in Gujarat and one in Rajasthan, and Shantiben is accused in one fraud case in Rajasthan.
Network busted and recoveries made
On April 15th, Gurugram Police said they’d broken up a fraud network that crossed state lines and tempted people with unbelievably cheap gold coins. Four people had been arrested previously, including what they believe is the main person in charge, Solanki Prabhubhai.
Investigators had already found over 2.30 crore rupees and roughly 678 grams of gold from those first four arrests. With these latest arrests, six people in total are now being held in relation to this case.
Allegations about the mastermind
Police say Prabhubhai has been doing dishonest deals for around tewnty-five years, mostly in Mumbai and Gujarat. Police also say he used money from these alleged scams to buy Hotel PM on the Delhi-Mumbai road, in Karjan-Lakodra, Vadodara.
A police representative also said that roughly fifteen years ago, Prabhubhai scammed Bollywood actor Aditya Pancholi out of 25 lakh rupees and writer Salim Khan out of 20 lakh rupees. Police state these claims are part of the current investigation.
What happens next
Police are questioning the two women while they have them in custody, to understand how the network worked, where the money went, and what part each person played. They are still focusing on finding the remaining money and seeing if there are any more victims.
Key developments highlighted by police:
– Two women arrested on production warrants
– Two-day police custody granted by court
– Total arrests in the case now six
– Cash and gold recovered in earlier action
– Mastermind linked to decades-long frauds
Investigators are looking into exactly how the fraudsters managed to trick the Gurugram exporter with the ‘cheap gold coin’ offer, including how they used connections in different states and their supposed links to the film industry. The fact that the women were arrested in Kota jail shows that police in different states are cooperating.
This case highlights how common and damaging high-value fraud is, where people are tricked with promises of quick money. Police warn that unusually low prices for gold coins are a big warning sign, and potential buyers should check who they are buying from before giving over a lot of money.
The police have repeated that these two women were arrested in connection with the same criminal network that was revealed earlier this month. They hope to find out from questioning them if other people who organized or funded the scam were involved.
Police are comparing the money found in the earlier searches with what the newly arrested women are saying. The goal of the investigators is to create a full and detailed case file, listing everyone’s roles, what was found, and their previous arrests.
The investigation is happening in many states, but the police say the breakthrough on April 15th is still the most important part of the case. They have not ruled out making more arrests, depending on what the two women reveal during questioning.
