3 conmen who used Anupam Kher photo on prop notes to buy 2.1kg gold caught

AHMEDABAD: Three men who duped a bullion trader of 2.1kg of gold by using prop currency notes with actor Anupam Kher’s photograph to pay for the precious metal have been arrested by the crime branch of the city police.
Among the three is 32-year-old Deepak Rajput, who has been described as the mastermind of the con that they allegedly pulled off in Ahmedabad’s Navrangpura on September 24. Police said Rajput is also an accused in a long list of fraud cases including one registered in Ahmedabad’s Vadaj police station that accuses him of duping an individual of 40kg of gold by mixing blank paper with real currency notes.
The officer said Rajput used Anupam Kher’s photograph because he was aware of the legal distinction between counterfeit currency and prop or imitation notes used by children or in the entertainment industry. “He knew that printing counterfeit notes would result in harsher penal provisions, so he opted for imitation currency to avoid stricter charges,” the officer said, adding that he printed the currency notes with Kher’s photo specifically for this con.
The accused have been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), including sections 61 (criminal conspiracy), 316 (criminal breach of trust), and 318 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).
Rajput’s two associates, who have also been arrested, have been identified by the police as Narendra Yadav alias Nandu (36), and Kalpesh Mehta (45).
Mehta was responsible for printing the fake notes and forging supporting documents, including a counterfeit SBI passbook, to lend credibility to the fraudulent deal, according to police.
Police said it was Rajput who contacted bullion trader Mehul Thakkar’s employee, Bharat Joshi, to buy 2.1kg of gold. It was to be handed over at an outlet in a shopping complex on C.G. Road in Ahmedabad. Rajput told the bullion trader that this was the premises of a local angadia service that they used for transport cash and jewellery. Police said his associate had taken it on rent just two days earlier.
According to an officer investigating the matter, Rajput and Nandu handed over 26 bundles of prop ₹500 notes, totalling ₹1.3 crore to Joshi at the angadia office and promised to return with the remaining ₹30 lakh. They disappeared with the gold before the bundles were opened.
“The men told Joshi to count the cash using a machine while they stepped out to fetch the remaining amount. Joshi handed over the 2.1kg gold, but as he began counting, he discovered the fake notes, each bearing Anupam Kher’s face instead of Mahatma Gandhi’s. By then, the conmen had vanished with the gold,” the official said.
The crime branch, which was brought in to solve the case, started with CCTV footage to track the suspects, who rented the so-called angadia office before the crime.