• Show genuine gold coin first gold coin nd later give fake ones
• Accused leave house one-by-one asking victim not to open the room door for two days

Mysuru: A man and his daughter from Belavatha, Mysuru, have allegedly cheated a resident of Bookanakere in K.R. Pet Taluk, Mandya, of Rs. 30 lakh by duping him with fake gold coins.

The victim, Manju (38), first met the accused, Pushpa (53), near Melukote Temple in Pandavapura. Pushpa tells Manju about a Swamiji, who helped her prosper and offers to introduce the Swamiji to him. She then introduces her father Krishnappa (77) as that Swamiji.

During the interaction, Pushpa presents Manju a business opportunity saying that Krishnappa, who was earlier an employee at RBI, still had deep contacts and he could help him double his money in no time.

The father-daughter told Manju that if he invested Rs. 15 lakh they would give him back Rs. 30 lakh the same day and the profit of 15 lakh would come from the connection they had in the RBI. They even produced a fake RBI ID card of Krishnappa to convince Manju that they had genuine connection within RBI.

Not to leave Manju off the hook, they changed their story and claimed they possessed ancestral gold coins and they wanted money urgently, so were selling at 50% discount.

The duo, to win Manju’s trust, first gave him one gold coin which Manju took, got it tested outside with a goldsmith, which turned out to be genuine coin. Convinced, Manju  accepted Pushpa’s invitation to see the rest of the coins at her rented house in Belavatha.

On the said day, Manju arrived at Pushpa’s house with his brother-in-law Manjunath and Rs. 30 lakh cash. Once at home, Krishnappa suddenly insisted on receiving five blank signed cheque leaves and E-stamp paper to make the transaction legal.

When Manju and his brother-in-law returned along with 5 cheque leaves, E-stamp paper and Rs. 30 lakh as demanded, Krishnappa allowed only Manju inside the house.

Inside, Manju noticed a third man present. The duo showed him a bag, supposedly containing gold coins and told him the coins would be melted into gold biscuits for which they had a machine that could melt the metal.

Manju was asked to stay at the house overnight with the gold while his brother-in-law and co-accused Pushpa stayed in the neighbour’s house.

The next morning, Krishnappa and the unknown person attempted to leave the house. When questioned, they told Manju that they are going to pick up some money from RBI and return soon and told him not to leave the house.

But Krishnappa and the other unknown person did not return. Meanwhile, Pushpa after giving the keys of the house to Manju left for Bengaluru saying that she has some urgent work.

As days went by, Pushpa, Krishnappa, nor the unknown person returned. Growing suspicious after four days with no contact, Manju called Pushpa, who shockingly claimed that Krishnappa had died in an accident near Kargil, J&K. When Manju called Krishnappa’s number, an unknown man answered in Hindi and misled him further.

Alarmed, Manju opened the room and discovered that the cash and cheque leaves were missing. The bag of coins remained, but he soon realised they were fake. He later found out that Pushpa and Krishnappa were father and daughter.

Following the incident, Manju filed a complaint at Narasimharaja Police Station in Mysuru. Police have registered a case and are investigating the matter.