Mumbai : In a major breakthrough, the Mumbai Crime Branch Unit 3 has arrested three members of a gang involved in a sophisticated fraud operation where genuine gold ornaments were exchanged with brass biscuits polished to look like real gold.
The case came to light after city-based jeweller Naresh Kewalchand Jain filed a complaint alleging that three men — identified as Ankit Jain, Narpat, and Prashant — deceived him by offering to exchange standard gold for jewellery.
On October 1, around 1:30 p.m. near Mazgaon Circle, one of the accused, posing as Prashant, collected 354.460 grams of gold ornaments worth approximately ₹40.59 lakh from the jeweller’s employee and handed over brass biscuits in return.
Following the complaint, the Crime Branch launched a detailed investigation alongside local police. CCTV footage revealed that the accused boarded a local train from Mumbai Central to Borivali after the exchange. Through technical surveillance and call records, police identified Rakesh Karsandas Lilani, a habitual offender with two previous cheating cases, and later traced Yogesh Madhukar Gothankar, who had impersonated Prashant.
Acting on intelligence inputs, both suspects were detained from Nagindas Pada in Nalasopara, where they confessed to the crime. They further disclosed that the fake gold biscuits were supplied by Mohit Hemant Sharma, who also handled the stolen jewellery and SIM cards used in the fraud.
A police team subsequently arrested Mohit from Mira Road railway station. All three — Yogesh Gothankar, Rakesh Lilani, and Mohit Sharma — admitted to cheating jewellers in a similar manner in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and Kolkata (West Bengal).
The accused have been handed over to the Byculla Police Station for further investigation, and officials are probing whether more jewellers were targeted across states.
