By Neeraj Kumar
Patna, June 18: Patna Police have arrested two members of a family-operated gang of thugs who swindled people by selling fake gold lockets resembling Lord Ganesh. The gang, which included women from the family, targeted victims across different states. Upon receiving a tip-off, police apprehended a man and his son-in-law, recovering a large quantity of the counterfeit lockets.
In a press conference, ASP Sadar Sweety Sehrawat detailed how the gang deceived a cloth merchant in Postal Park using the fake lockets. Acting on this information, the Kankarbagh police reached the scene, where two gang members attempted to flee but were captured.
The police recovered several Lord Ganesh lockets weighing a total of 5.1 kg and a mobile phone from the arrested individuals. The thugs confessed to purchasing the lockets for Rs 10,000 from Azad Nagar Market in Delhi and traveling to various states to defraud people.
The arrested individuals, identified as Ganesh Rathore (55) of Adarshnagar, Faridabad, Haryana, and his son-in-law Man Singh alias Bunty from Sarojini Nagar, Lucknow, revealed that their wives also participated in the scam. Police raids to capture the remaining gang members were unsuccessful as they had fled their rented house.
The gang admitted to previously deceiving businessmen in Lucknow and Saharanpur and had recently arrived in Patna to find new victims. They lured their targets by claiming the lockets were stolen goods and offered to sell them at low prices, thereby extorting money.
