Pune: 9 arrested for bid to dupe man over ‘ancient coin worth Rs 10 crore’

According to a press release on Friday, some of the accused had approached a home guard, Vaibhav Tavare, to sell him the alleged ancient coin. The accused told Tavare that the coin contains ‘high iridium’ due to which it is worth Rs 10 crore in the market, police said.

Tavare agreed to buy the coin from the accused but informed the police about them. When the accused came to Akurdi on Thursday to sell the coin to the home guard, a team from the Nigdi police station, which had laid a trap, caught them, police said.

At least Rs 7 lakh cash, one ancient coin, nine cell phones and two cars were recovered from their possession,police said. The accused, Harish Parshuram Patil (68), Sanjay Arjun Kuchekar (42), Sujit Rajendra Sarfale (21), Pramod Ramchandra Bachate (40), Rajesh Vijaykumar Govardhan (41), Jyotiram Bhimrao Pawar (44), Ratnakar Vijay Savant (43), Kishor Dnyaneshwar Bhagat (36) and Imran Hasan Khan (43), were booked under sections 420, 511 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958.

– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.

Police Sub-inspector Raosaheb Bambale said a court has remanded the accused to police custody till June 14.

The police are probing how the accused, who are from different districts and professions, came together and tried to cheat a person in this manner, police said.