Three held for palming off brass brick as gold

Ahmedabad, Jan 7 (IANS) Three men who attempted to palm off a brass brick as gold have landed themselves in custody, the police said here Wednesday.

Saraf Khan, 22, Hakam Khan, 30 and Ram Prasad, 30, were arrested after a trap laid by the police when they were handing over the fake gold brick to a man named Ghanshyambhai Venishankar Dave of Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad Crime Branch sub-inspector K.U. Malek said.

The trio are residents of Rajasthan.

According to Malek, Saraf Khan, who once sold onion seeds, met Dave in Bhavnagar when he went there on business. Khan spun a story about finding a 2.5 kg gold brick while digging in a field near his hometown of Alwar.

Khan even showed Dave a piece of gold that he said was chipped from the brick and persuaded him to buy it for Rs.500,000. Of this, Rs.300,000 was to be paid on delivery and Rs.200,000 after eight days, Malek told IANS.

Dave, however, remembered a report two years ago when a man was fooled into purchasing a gold brick for Rs.2 million and contacted the police.

'I was asked to lay a trap,' Malek said, adding that Khan was arrested when he was handing over the fake brick. Hakam and Ram Prasad, who were present at the spot, were also arrested, Malek said.