auto driver

Indian rupee

Bengaluru

gang of fraudsters

Jesus

Reddy on bail, calls it vendetta Janardhana Reddy was arrested after the CCB team probing the Ambidant group led by Syed Ahmed Fareed was accused by many investors of duping them and operating a Ponzi scam.

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Since I was cheated, I kept calling the phone number on which I had spoken to the woman. But both the phone numbers she had given me were switched off. That’s when I filed a complaint with the police –S Krishne Gowda, auto-driver

Look up with pride: 100-ft tall flag for Bengaluru railway stations According to a circular issued by the Railway Board last month, 75 railway stations in India, whose annual earnings exceed Rs 50 crore (called A-1 category stations) have been asked to ensure that our national flag flies atop their premises at a height of 100 ft.

The shoe is on the other foot: Lady passenger cheatsWhile economists are worried about the free fall that thehas been in against the dollar, some charlatans are looking at it as an opportunity to dupe someone.And this time, even the normally smart-as-a-whipauto-driver could not insulate himself against the best laid plans of a lady and her accomplices.S Krishne Gowda, the 52-year-old auto-driver and a resident of Maduramma Layout in Sunkadakatte, has lodged a complaint that he was cheated by a, one of whom was a woman. The auto-driver lost Rs two lakh in cash.Krishne Gowda told the police that a woman, aged around 30 years, boarded his auto when he was waiting for passengers near KR Market, a few days ago. The woman wanted to go to Viveknagar, near the InfantChurch, and is supposed to have spoken to him in Hindi.After reaching the destination, she gave him a 20 dollar bill and asked him to return the change. The driver who had never seen a dollar before, realised it was foreign currency when he saw 20printed on the bill.He told her that he could not accept foreign currency and asked her to pay in Indian rupees. But the woman claimed that she did not have Indian currency as she was paid in dollars at her work place in Bengaluru.When the driver suggested that she get the money exchanged, she agreed and he took her to a currency exchange firm on MG Road. After getting the currency exchanged, he drove her back to Viveknagar and was paid Rs 350.“While travelling in the auto, the woman told the driver that she had many dollar bundles which were valued very highly now. She told the driver that she did not know many foreign exchange firms in the city and sought his help to get her dollars exchanged to rupees.She told him that she needed Rs two lakh urgently to look after her children who were unwell. She added that she would give him dollars in exchange, more than the exchange value of Rs two lakh and he could make a neat Rs 4 lakh,” said a police officer who is a part of the investigation.She left after they had exchanged phone numbers. Over the next few days, she called the auto-driver incessantly and finally he agreed to give her Rs two lakh in exchange for dollars.Last Thursday, she told him to come near the Infant Jesus Church in Viveknagar with the money and that she would hand over the dollars to him. As agreed, the auto-driver arrived near the church with the money he had arranged with great difficulty.When he called the phone number she had given him, a man replied and soon, a 35-year-old man was standing in front of Krishne Gowda. After looking around furtively, the man said he would return with the dollars in a few minutes.After sometime, he arrived with another man and gave Krishne Gowda a bag. Before he handed over the bag with dollars, he showed Krishne Gowda a few dollar bills and took his bag with Rs two lakh.The two men left from there advising the auto-driver not to check the bag in public as he could become a victim of robbery due to the high demand for dollars. After sometime, when the driver opened the bag, he was shocked to see a bundle of empty papers wrapped in a handkerchief.“Since I was cheated, I kept calling the phone number on which I had spoken to the woman. But both the phone numbers she had given me were switched off. That’s when I filed a complaint with the police,” Gowda told Bangalore Mirror.The police further added that the gang had used legitimate currency to gain the driver’s trust in the beginning. The police are also going through the footage of CCTVs installed in buildings near the scene of the crime.The Viveknagar police has registered a case of cheating under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and are further investigating.