Mangaluru: Urwa police arrested an inter-state fraudster who posed as a businessman and allegedly cheated a city-based jeweller of gold biscuits worth over Rs 31 lakh.According to the police, on Nov 21, a man identifying himself as Arun visited a jewellery store at Urwa Store. Claiming he was opening an office at a business centre the next day, he said he needed 24 gold biscuits of 10g each (24-carat) to gift his guests. After selecting the designs, he instructed the staff to deliver the gold to his office at noon on Nov 22, assuring them that he would make an RTGS payment immediately.On the scheduled day, the jewellery staff reached the business centre with the biscuits. The accused took them to the fifth-floor cafeteria, collected all 24 biscuits, and told them he would head to his third-floor office to complete the RTGS transaction. He never returned and fled with the gold, police said. Based on a complaint, Urwa police launched an investigation, and using technical surveillance, traced the suspect to Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. A police team arrested him on Nov 26 at Puliyakullam.Further investigation revealed that the accused’s name is Pugal Vasan alias Pugal Hasan alias Arun,50, a resident of Singanallur, Coimbatore. Police said he routinely used fake identities to commit similar crimes across states. The team recovered 240g of 24-carat gold biscuits, valued at Rs 31 lakh, from him.The accused has a criminal history involving similar frauds in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chittoor, and Tirupati, where cases are already registered.The operation was carried out under the guidance of police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH, with directions from DCPs Mithun HN (law & order) and Ravi Shankar K (crime). The arrest was made by a team led by ACP Pratap Singh Thorat and Urwa inspector Shyam Sundar HM, along with PSIs Gurappa Kanti and L Manjula.
