Gang selling artificial gold caught

DAVANAGERE: Police arrested five persons in Davanagere on Saturday in connection with selling artificial gold and recovered half a kilo of fake gold pieces from them.
The accused are Santhosh, Parasappa, Anjinappa, Srinivas and Hanumantha, all belonging to Harapanahalli taluk, SP Sandeep Patil said. Recently, Somashekhar, a merchant from Davanagere, had been informed by the gang that they had received 4 kg of gold while digging at the site of a building in Harapanahalli and that it would be sold at a subsidised cost of Rs 6 lakh.
The culprits directed Somashekhar to Anagodu village with the cash in order to conduct the transaction.The group managed to trick the merchant the first time by giving him an original piece of gold saying he could check it for purity but later gave him a fake piece which led to his reporting the incident to the police.