Conmen drug goldsmith with 'holy water', pocket 75-gm gold bar

Two self-styled astrologers conned a goldsmith of 75 grams of gold on the pretext of telling him about his future.

Halasuru Gate police have opened a case of cheating and breach of trust.

Suman Sarkar, 20, is a goldsmith at Om Gold Jewellers, a shop in Cottonpet, run by Rajan Roy.

On March 27, the manager, Santhu Bhoomik, gave Sarkar a 75-gram gold bar and asked him to get its purity tested at a shop called Balaji Gold.

Sarkar took the gold bar and went to the shop and got the purity tested. While he was walking back on Ganigara C Lane in Maldarpet, two men spoke to him in Bengali. Being a Bengali himself, Sarkar responded. The men claimed to be astrologers and offered to see his palm and predict his future.

They told him he would face some problems, but could overcome them if he wore a sacred thread. They promised to give him the thread if he accompanied them to a temple.

Sarkar agreed and went with them to Dharmaraya Swami Temple. They gave him water to drink, saying it was holy water.

When Sarkar drank the water, he was hypnotised and followed their instructions in toto.

The men asked him for the gold bar. Sarkar took the gold bar out of his pocket and handed it over to them.

They then asked him to walk 100 steps and return. Sarkar did as told.

When he returned, the men were gone. He looked for them, but didn’t find them. He later told his employer about what had happened.