The police here today arrested three persons who, alongwith some others, cheated a man of Rs 20 lakh by promising to sell him an old copper coin with supposedly magical powers.
A team led by ACP I Chittibabu recovered Rs 8.5 lakh in cash, five mobile phones and some old copper coins from Mamidi Arjuna Rao who is a native of Ravikamatam and real-estate businessman; K Ramesh, a resident of Anandapuram area in Vizag and also a real-estate businessman, and A Shyam Kumar, native of Butchayyapeta. All three were arrested.
M Pothuraju and two other accused are absconding.
DCPs Dr CM Thrivikrama Varma and T Ravi Kumar Murthy said the accused offered copper coins with 'East India Company 1888' inscribed on them, stating that such coins had supernatural powers and their value in the international market was around Rs two crore.
They collected Rs 20 lakh from Janga Raja Reddy of Bikkavole. Reddy didn't get any coin though, and approached the police.
According to police, the coin offered by the gang was available at many places and it has no "powers".
