Rs 2 crore dacoity victim in Bengaluru turns out to be mastermind, in custody
Sriharsha V, 33, a resident of Kengeri Satellite Town and a BE graduate involved in stock trading, had filed a complaint with Vidyaranyapura police on July 14 stating that a gang of armed men had robbed him of Rs 2 crore at a shop in MS Palya. He claimed the money was borrowed from multiple people to fund a cold-pressed oil business and purchase machinery from Germany. To convert the cash into cryptocurrency, he said he sought help from friends who introduced him to a chain of middlemen.
The transaction was set up at a shop named AK Enterprises, where, according to Sriharsha, a group of seven men stormed in, assaulted him, and fled with the money.
Police inspector Shivaswamy CB found inconsistencies in Sriharsha's story. When asked to provide details of his lenders, he faltered. Probe revealed the money didn't belong to him at all, it was owned by electrical goods businessman Bharath, who had approached Sriharsha to convert it into USDT cryptocurrency.
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by Taboola
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Instead, Sriharsha masterminded a staged robbery to pocket the sum, police found out.
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Police soon contacted Bharath, who confirmed the money was his. Bharath's employee, Shantha Kumar, later filed a complaint, shifting the case from a dacoity to an elaborate fraud. Police uncovered a racket where Sriharsha and his associates targeted businessmen looking to invest in cryptocurrency, took their money under the pretext of conversion, and fled.
Police arrested 15 people, including Sriharsha. The accused include Benjamin Harsha, 45, a taxi service agent; Rakshit M alias Appu, 29, a dry fruit trader; Chandrashekar HS, 58, a garment firm manager; and several others from Vidyaranyapura, KR Puram, and Chamarajpet. Four suspects are absconding.
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