Gujarat gang arrested in Kochi for selling fake ‘golden’ soil to TN goldsmiths for ₹68 lakh

Kochi: The Palarivattom police have arrested four individuals from Gujarat for duping a group of goldsmiths out of ₹50 lakh by promising to sell them soil containing gold residues.

The accused are Sandeep Hasmukh Bhai (37), Vipul Manji Bhai (43), Dharmesh Bhai (38), and Kripesh Bhai (35), all natives of Surat. They were nabbed from different locations in the city based on a complaint from the goldsmiths from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu.

The gang ran the scam from a rented building at North Janatha Road, Palarivattom. They had stored soil in around 500 sacks in the godown. They approached the goldsmiths through agents, saying the soil was collected from factories making jewellery, and it contained gold residues.

The goldsmiths fell for the trap as the scamsters initially sold them a sample of five kg of soil to which they had added liquid gold. To convince the goldsmiths, the dupers made them pick the sample from any sack they wanted and added liquid gold to it while weighing it. The liquid gold was injected into the packet by one of the accused through the holes made on the table by hiding under it while weighing the soil using a digital balance. The accused kept the buyers at a distance from the weighing area.

The goldsmiths processed the sample and sorted the gold granules. They then ordered five tonnes of soil at a cost of ₹80 lakh. They paid ₹50 lakh in cash and ₹18 lakh in cheque in advance. 

“The complainants doubted the soil even before receiving the order, as they heard about similar scams and approached the police. They said around 20 people had invested the money to buy the soil. We are investigating if more people were involved in the crime,” Palarivattom SHO Roopesh K R told Onmanorama.

The Ernakulam North Police and the Sendamangalam Police in Tamil Nadu have also launched a probe against the accused based on similar complaints. The accused have been remanded.