Hyderabad: Commissioner’s Task Force, Central Zone, apprehended six persons near the Sri Rama temple parking lot at Langer Houz and recovered an antique panchaloha horse weighing about 40 kg, an SUV and six cell phones from their possession.
The arrested were identified as Bagari Ramesh, 32, Jangam Jagdishwarya alias Swamy, 36, Nagula Sri Hari, 27, Burra Sundar Goud, 32, Badhrapura Rukesh, 24, and Aradani Ravi, 27, the police said, adding that one Vishnu alias Tillu was absconding
Ramesh, Jagdishwarya, Sri Hari and Sundar Goud contacted two persons, Subba Rao and Venkatesh, residents of Hampi in Karnataka, who offered to sell the antique panchaloha horse idol for a huge commission.
Ramesh took the help of his friends and went to Hampi and paid Rs 2.5 lakh as an advance to the two men and brought the idol to Hyderabad and started looking for prospective buyers, said DCP, Commissioner’s Task Force, P. Radha Kishan Rao.
“They quoted a price of Rs 2 crore to be distributed amongst themselves to overcome their financial crisis. They came in contact with Badhrapura Rukesh, a resident of BHEL Township, who was a friend of Sri Hari. He helped in arranging buyers for a commission of 3 per cent. Rukesh introduced one Aradani Ravi to Ramesh. According to their plan, the gang was travelling in the car along with the idol when the Central Zone Task Force team caught them,” the DCP said. The accused persons along with seized idol were handed over to the Langer Houz Police for further investigation.
