Seven conmen land in police net

The Madiwala police have arrested seven conmen who diverted the attention of gullible people and vanished with their money.

The arrested are Mohammed Akram, 30, a native of Kerala; Mohammed Tushar, 28, a native of Delhi; Mohammed Sadath, 20, a native of Uttar Pradesh; Krishna Kumar Sahani, 20, Muntan Kumar Sahani, 20, Ramkumar Sahani, 23, and Krishna Mahatao, 54, all natives of Bihar. The police have also recovered Rs 95,000 from them.

According to the police, their modus operandi was to dress smartly and target labourers who visited banks to deposit or withdraw cash. Once they zeroed in on their prey, they would make them feel comfortable with their glib talk and even help them fill up challans and transaction forms.

They would advise their potential victims to keep the cash carefully and offer them an envelope. Meanwhile, they would, by some sleight of hand, manage to get their hands on the cash envelop and hand over another cover containing fake notes and blank papers to their victims, the police said.

The police said the same gang had robbed Mohan, a businessman, who was counting cash sitting inside his car near Kuvempu Nagar bus stand near Silk Board junction recently.

The suspects, who observed him, dropped a currency note near the car and drew Mohan’s attention to it. While Mohan got down to pick up the note, they took away Rs 1.5 lakh cash from the car.