Raipur
A mother and her son from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested for allegedly cheating jewellers in Raipur and Bilaspur by exchanging fake gold bracelets for real gold chains. Police have recovered the stolen jewellery and ₹82,170 cash from the accused.
The Raipur police arrested the duo before they could strike a third time. The accused have been identified as Savita Singh, also known as Sapna or Sappo, and her son, Ishant Verma, also known as Anuj. The police also seized the car used in the crime.
The first incident came to light after Shali Bhadra Dhariwal, who owns a jewellery store in Sadar Bazaar, Raipur, filed a police complaint. According to Dhariwal, on 9 September, a woman entered his shop and asked to get a gold bracelet repaired. When Dhariwal told her it was not possible, she asked to exchange it for a new gold chain.
Dhariwal gave her a 13.88-gm gold chain worth approximately ₹1.68 lakh. When he told her he was going to get her bracelet checked, she immediately fled the shop. The jeweller later found that the bracelet given to him was fake.
Similarly, on the same day, the duo cheated Ajay Kumar Shah, who owns Shah Jewellers in Sadar Bazaar, Bilaspur. A woman in a black salwar suit entered his shop and asked to exchange a 23-carat gold bracelet weighing 19 gm for a new one. Shah gave her a 15-gm gold bracelet worth around ₹1.86 lakh. Later, he found that the bracelet she gave him was not made of gold.
The police examined CCTV footage from both locations, which showed the duo arriving in a car with a Uttar Pradesh registration. The police traced the vehicle and arrested the accused.
