New Delhi: An investment in an imaginary ‘rice puller’ (RP), to be used by NASA and DRDO, led a Delhi-based businessman lose his crores to a father-son duo.

The duo, now under police custody, was selling an alleged device which is “charged by thunderbolt and is required for space research by NASA/DRDO”.

According to police, businessman Narendra approached police this month after he was cheated to the tune of Rs 1.43crore on the pretext of buying this imaginary device.

The arrested accused have been identified as Virender and Nitin Mohan.

How was the businessman cheated?

The story of this cheating goes back to three years ago when Narendra came in contact with one of the accused who told him about the profits involved in dealing with RP.

In April 2015, the businessman received a call from one person who expressed his desire to sell RP. The victim recalled his conversation with the accused, who spoke to him about buying and selling of RP and the profit involved in it.

“Virender introduced himself as MD, Rehan Metals, USA. He told the victim that if he buys RP, his company could arrange the sale of same to NASA at a price of around Rs 37,500/- crore per M/A (depending upon power of RP pulling rice per inch) after testing its genuineness, which would be done by scientists of DRDO and some chemicals would be imported for the same,” police said.

The victim was lured to invest money in the said testing to earn hefty profit.

The businessman was also told that he would get Rs 10crore on the spot as a token money if the testing of RP or the movement of RP, as they called it, was successful.

The businessman entered into an MoU with accused Virender and paid Rs 5.6 lakh, 19 lakh, 24.6 lakh and 38 lakh for arranging special anti-radiation suits to be worn by scientists during testing, fees of scientists, for obtaining

chemicals required for testing, etc, respectively, police official said.

The testing of RP which was scheduled in Hapur was postponed saying the place was not conducive. They kept on delaying the tests on some pretext.

At the same time, other associates of the seller

of the ‘RP’ (who had called once) mounted pressure on the businessman to finalise the deal or they would sell the RP to someone else.

Businessman was cheated twice by the gang.

They (the said caller) also introduced him to another company - Stars World Heritage - for the sale of RP. They assured him that he won’t be cheated this time.

The businessman again signed an MoU with the company and again paid Rs. 5.6 lakh, 3.5 lakh and 42 lakh on different occasions for purchase of a special suit for the scientists, their fees and chemical required for the testing of RP which was scheduled in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. “This time again the testing could not happen stating a not-so-clear sky,” said a police official.

Later, the businessman came to know that the scientist who was supposed to conduct the test and on whom he was spent lakhs was not working with DRDO. He was working with the accused persons and was paid a monthly salary of Rs 20000.

Who are these cheats?

Accused Virender used to assist his father in the motor workshop during 1990s. The hard work and low income forced him to look for other ventures which could give him an easy income. He along with his son, Nitin, started cheating people on the pretext of buying rare and antique objects like magic mirror, rice puller, dual headed snakes, Naagmani, etc. According to police, they have a history of cheating cases.

Police have recovered alleged ‘RP’ copper plate, alleged anti-radiation scientist’s suits of NASA and alleged anti-radiation chemical stickers. They have also recovered laptop, printer, blank letter heads of Rehan Metals/USA, cheque books, fake ID cards of Rehan Metals and an Audi car.

What is a rice puller?

Rice Puller (RP) is a non-existent thing. The cheats took a copper plate or utensil and coated it with liquid magnet. They filled some boiled rice with small iron wires and befooled the victim by pulling the iron clad rice grain towards the magnet coated copper article. They further befooled the victim by presenting RP as a rare copper piece, which is struck by thunderbolt in the hills of Uttarakhand giving it the power to pull rice. They also said that it is being used by NASA/DRDO in advanced space research.

They said ‘RP’ will be purchased by NASA/DRDO for thousands of crores, but they will test it before buying. The testing expenses are to be borne by the seller. They lured the victim to finance the testing fees in lieu of a share in the selling price which is thousands of crores.