New Delhi: In an unprecedented turn of events, two conmen duped jewellers across the city, as well as some from outside, of crores of rupees by posing as legitimate businessmen.
Apart from one or two cases, the police have not even registered FIRs against them and said they are still investigating charges against the brothers.
The two identified as Sandeep Chaudhary and Vijay Chaudhary, both residents of Model Town area of northwest Delhi, have cases pending against them in Jaipur and Gujarat too. The Karol Bagh Jewellers association had written to the local police station about the two but the police have allegedly not taken any action.
What makes the story all the more intriguing is that they have been able to dupe so many people through the same modus operandi.
VN Seth, who has a jewellery shop in Karol Bagh, was approached by the duo some months ago on the pretext that they were opening a jewellery store in Model Town. Seth was even shown the store after which the two bought jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh from Seth. "They paid me the whole amount to win my trust. They used to behave professionally while choosing items so that I should not have even an iota of doubt that they will dupe me."
"After the first transaction, they again bought jewellery worth Rs 35 lakh and paid the money through post-dated cheques. They told me that I could cash the cheques the following day but all of them bounced. I have all the bills and cheques with their signatures but the police refused to lodge my complaint," alleged Seth.
"When I went to the residence in Model Town they refused to return my goods or pay the money," he added.
Six months ago the Chaudhary brothers had also duped Satish Rajput, the proprietor of MM Jewellers in Karol Bagh. "Like a professional diamond merchant they selected some diamonds and paid me through cheque which was credited. On their next visit they told me that they export diamonds to Dubai and bought goods worth Rs 10 lakh.They paid me again by cheque. But it bounced and despite my repeated attempts I was not able to register a complaint at the Mukherjee Nagar police station," alleged Rajput.
A month ago Yogesh Soni, owner of Sreeji jewels in Chandni Chowk, was also conned by the two in a similar manner. Yogesh had also filed a complaint at the Kotwali police station on April 21 but nothing has come out of it yet.
"The duo took jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh. The first cheque for Rs 1.6 lakh got credited but the remaining ones were bogus. I have proof of the transactions. They have duped many jewellers across Delhi. We hope the police will take some action against them," said Soni.
Surprisingly, there is one case in which the Chaudhary brothers had to end up behind bars for a few months. According to papers available with MiD DAY, the two brothers using a similar modus operandi, posed as steel exporters to dupe the owner of Jain Art Jewels in Karol Bagh of Rs 77 lakh. A store manager with Jain Art Jewels, requesting anonymity, said: "The two are master cons.
When we took them to the court, they were ordered to pay us the money in installments of Rs one lakh each. However, they don't pay it regularly. I know they have cheated a lot of jewellers in Delhi. But, there are very few cases against them."The mobile phone numbers that Chaudhary brothers gave to the jewellers were switched off.