A 59-year-old man, Mohan Rai, was arrested for allegedly swindling a Delhi businessman of Rs30 lakh by selling fake “excavated gold”. Rai spun a convincing tale, even passing off the fake gold as genuine, and initially, a gold purity test backed the scam.
The businessman, Gaurav Soni, from Paschim Vihar, was introduced to Rai and his accomplices by a local hardware shop owner, Ramesh Sharma, in November 2022. Rai and his associates claimed that the gold they had was excavated from a digging at their home in Mathura. To gain Soni’s trust, they first provided two golden pearls, which tested to be 78% pure gold.
Later, they presented a necklace set weighing around 2 kg, and struck a deal for Rs80 lakh. Convinced that the gold was genuine, Soni paid Rs30 lakh upfront, with the remainder to be settled after further verification.
However, when Soni later scrutinized the gold, he realized it was fake. Attempts to contact the fraudsters failed as their phones were switched off. On December 25, Soni filed a complaint, and an FIR was registered at the Palam Village Police Station.
After analyzing more than 100 mobile numbers and IMEI records, the Delhi Police arrested Rai on March 3. During interrogation, Rai confessed that he had orchestrated the scam with his accomplices, Babu Lal and Lakshmi, who supplied the fake gold. Rai admitted to having received Rs9.5 lakh from the fraud proceeds.
Two of Rai’s accomplices are still at large, and the investigation is ongoing.
