Six persons arrested for attempt to sell fake gold coins in Tiruvannamalai

Chengam Police arrest six for attempting to sell fake gold coins worth ₹36 lakhs, case under investigation.

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Six persons, including a woman, were arrested by the Chengam Police for trying to sell 140 fake gold coins for a sum of ₹36 lakhs to a transport service proprietor.

Those arrested were identified as S. Dharmalingam, 67, K. Satyaraj, 24, C. Arulmurugan, 45, G. Venkatesan, 24, K. Suresh, 48 and V. Nagavalli, 39. The first four persons belong to Villupuram district while the rest hail from Cuddalore district.

Initial inquiry revealed that Nagavalli and her associates had met the victim K. Srinivasan, 43, a transport service proprietor in Namakkal, a few days ago. The gang told him that they had unearthed treasure from their ancestral land in Cuddalore when they were laying the foundation for a new house.

The gang claimed to have found a bag of 140 gold coins and a 3 kg mangalsutra chain. After convincing him, they demanded ₹1 crore in return for the treasure but reduced the amount to ₹36 lakh after a series of negotiations.

Srinivasan agreed to meet them in Tiruvannamalai to fix the deal after they sent him videos and pictures of coins. Meanwhile, Srinivasan alerted the Tiruvannamalai Police.

As per plan, Srinivasan waited on Tiruvannamalai-Bengaluru Highway near Chengam. When the gang approached him and demanded money, the police cornered them. All six were arrested and a case was registered. Later, they were lodged at sub-jail in Chengam. A probe is under way.