Conman arrested, gold ornaments worth around Rs 1 cr seized

A man was arrested today for allegedly duping several people of their valuables, and gold ornaments worth around Rs 1 crore were seized from him. "The accused, identified as A Chinna Reddy alias Chinnaiah, was nabbed from his residence in Nizamabad district of Telangana," Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahendar Reddy said. A case of theft was registered at Market Police Station following a complaint by a jeweller that somebody stole 2.3 kg of gold ornaments from his driver by offering him liquor on February 11, he said. During investigation, the accused was identified through CCTV footages collected from different places which showed that he had visited a bar and consumed liquor with the driver, Reddy said. Police teams were sent to different places to nab the accused, following which he was arrested today, the Police Commissioner said, adding gold ornaments weighing about 2.77 kg valued at around Rs 1 crore were seized from his possession. "The accused used to befriend people, take them to bars and make them drink heavily. Once they lose consciousness, he would replace their bags containing valuables with his," the Police Commissioner said. During interrogation, Chinnaiah confessed to stealing 2.3 kg of gold and also committing 13 similar offences in different districts of the state, including four crimes in Hyderabad, Reddy said. The accused, who was originally a farmer, had cheated many people, including farmers and gold agents, and was arrested in some of those cases, he said, adding investigation is underway.