Fraudsters cook up liquid that doubles money, cheat a doctor of Rs 33 lakh
Nalgonda: Fraudsters are always on the lookout for gullible persons to make money cheating them. They come up with make-believe scenarios to force the victims to loosen their purse strings. However, two fraudsters cooked up an unimaginable story — a liquid that doubles currency notes — an idea that appears lifted from the tales of Harry Potter’s magical world.
According to superintendent of police Sharat Chandra Pawar, the accused — identified as Sheik Shiraj (53), his son Sheik Aftab (20) and Ram Naresh Yadav (40), all natives of Katihar in Bihar — got acquainted with Ramoju Rama Chary, a registered medical practitioner, about two years ago when they worked for the construction of his house at Chandanapally in Nalgonda district.
A few months back, they told Rama Chary that they could double his money using a special liquid. As a trial, Rama Chary gave them Rs 6,500, which they returned to him as Rs 13,000.
Believing in their unrealistic story, Rama Chary asked the accused to double Rs 33 lakh, which he got by selling a property, using their liquid.
On June 22, the accused — Shiraj and Naresh — visited the victim’s house and divided Rs 33 lakh into 11 bundles and sank them in their special liquid. However, when Rama Chary went to attend to a patient in another room, which was his clinic, the accused replaced the bundles of original currency with the dummy bundles that just had Rs 500 notes on the top and bottom and white papers in the middle.
They asked the victim to dry the cash bundles for a day and use it later. However, when Rama Chary opened the cash bundles the next day, he found that he was cheated and filed a complaint with the Nalgonda rural police station.
Receiving a tip off, the police arrested Sheik Shiraj and Ram Naresh from the Nalgonda railway station. Both the accused were waiting to board a train to escape with the cash. The police recovered Rs 24 lakh from them. Sheik Afthab, the son of Sheik Shiraj, already fled to Bihar with Rs 9 lakh, the police said.
