Lured with ‘treasure gold coins’, Hyderabad bizman robbed of Rs 20 lakh near Bengaluru airport

Bengaluru: In a broad daylight incident, a gang of four allegedly robbed a Hyderabad-based businessman of Rs 20 lakh after luring him with the promise of selling gold coins at a discounted price near Devanahalli on the city’s northern outskirts on Wednesday.

P Vishwaprasad Reddy, 58, had come in contact with a man named Ramaraju through previous business dealings.

Ramaraju’s driver, Shaik Baji, 32, allegedly approached Reddy with an offer, claiming that a Bengaluru-based man named Kumar had said a group had discovered a treasure of gold coins on open land. The group, he claimed, wanted to sell the coins discreetly at Rs 20 lakh per kilogram.

On March 3, Ramaraju showed Reddy two gold coins to substantiate the claim. Reddy had them examined in Hyderabad and was reportedly told that they were genuine one-gram coins with 18-carat purity.

Trusting the offer, Reddy flew to Bengaluru on March 4 carrying Rs 5 lakh in cash. After landing at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), he hired a car and collected another Rs 15 lakh from his relative, Nidaganti Puttaiah, 48, who lives in Bengaluru, before meeting Baji.

The three then travelled along the Devanahalli-Ananthapura highway to meet Kumar, who allegedly claimed to possess four to five kilograms of gold coins.

Reddy was asked to reach Venkatagiri Kote village around 1 pm. At that time, a group of unidentified men arrived on separate two-wheelers.

Two of them, armed with wooden sticks, allegedly assaulted Puttaiah and Baji, who were seated in the rear, and snatched a bag containing Rs 20 lakh from Reddy’s car. They also took away Reddy’s iPhone and the mobile phones of the injured men before fleeing.

Reddy later reached the Devanahalli police station to lodge a complaint. He was subsequently referred to the Vijayanapura police, who registered a case of dacoity against Kumar and four others. A special team has been formed to trace the accused.