Two held for duping jeweller with fake online payment

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The Crime Branch has arrested two youths who tricked a 75-year-old jeweller by pretending to make an online payment and fled with ornaments worth Rs 39,500. The accused scanned a QR code and showed an old payment screenshot before escaping with a gold ring and two silver bracelets. Both were caught within 48 hours.

Senior police inspector Sambhaji Pawar of the crime branch identified the accused as Shahed Khan (32, Indiranagar, Baijipura; originally from Maksud Colony) and Shaikh Sameer (19, Katkat Gate, Nehru Nagar). The incident took place on July 15 at a jewellery shop in Kasari Bazar owned by Radheyshyam Raghunath Verma. The duo posed as customers and asked to see ornaments for girls. After selecting a 2.5-gram gold ring and two silver bracelets (97g and 63g), they claimed they would pay via UPI. They scanned the QR code, then cleverly displayed a screenshot of an earlier payment to mislead the shopkeeper. Believing the transaction had gone through, Verma let them go. When the money didn’t reflect in his account, he filed a complaint at City Chowk Police Station. A team led by API Ravikant Gache and constable Manoj Akole examined CCTV footage and tracked the duo. Both were arrested on July 17, and the stolen jewellery was recovered. Police revealed that the same suspects had earlier used a similar trick to cheat another jeweller, a case already registered at Cantonment police station.