The Kagwad police in Belagavi district have successfully apprehended a gang of three individuals, including a police constable from Maharashtra, for their alleged involvement in cheating people by offering extra money for exchanging currency notes.
The accused have been identified as Sagar Sadashiv Jadhav, a 31-year-old police constable with Miraj police station in Maharashtra, Arif Aziz Sagar, aged 34, and Laxman Naik, aged 36, both hailing from Linganur in Maharashtra.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had recently announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes, and the gang took advantage of this decision to deceive people. According to police sources, the gang offered Rs 6 lakh (paid in Rs 2,000 notes) in exchange for Rs 5 lakh (paid in other currency notes). To convince their “prospective clients” that the offer was legitimate, the accused showed them several bundles of Rs 500 currency notes. However, it was later discovered that those notes were fake, and only the ones on top of the bundles were genuine.
The arrest of the gang follows a complaint by Sameer Bhanudas Bhosale, a manager with an event management company in Tasagaon in Sangli district. He had approached Kagawad police on June 1, stating that the accused had contacted him over the phone on May 31 and fixed a deal on exchanging currency notes. They invited him near Mallayya Temple of Mangasuli village in Kagawad taluk around 8.15 pm. However, after taking Rs 5 lakh from him, they fled in a white-coloured car without a number plate and a bike. After losing Rs 5 lakh (and not receiving Rs 6 lakh in return), Bhosale approached Kagawad police and filed a complaint.
Acting on the complaint, police traced the gang and arrested them within 24 hours of the crime, and further investigation is on.