Karnataka - Bellary   

Three convicted of cheating tourist

BELLARY: N.S. Nagalinganagouda Patil, Principal Civil Judge (Junior Division), Hospet, on Monday convicted three persons of cheating a Japanese national during his visit to Hampi in 2003. He has sentenced them to simple imprisonment of one year. They have also been asked to pay a fine of Rs. 40,000 each. If they do not pay up, they will have to remain in prison for another three months.

Those convicted of the offence are Akbar Ali, Nand Kishore Verma and Sharad Kumar Jain.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Rajeshwari, who was appointed Special Prosecutor for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), told The Hindu that Akbar Ali, Nand Kishore Verma and Sharad Kumar, all residents of Jaipur in Rajasthan, were gemstone dealers in Hampi.

They met Hideki Ishino, a Japanese tourist, during his visit to Hampi and introduced themselves as dealers in gemstones. Later, stating that these gems would fetch a higher price in Japan if sold, they lured him into paying them Rs. 1.5 lakh. They said he could collect the stones from one Santhoshi in Japan once they were ready. The Japanese national then returned to his country and waited for Santoshi to approach him.

When nothing seemed to be moving, he sent a written complaint by post to the Kamalapura police here. Acting on it, the police conducted a thorough search for the accused with the address given by the Japanese national. However, they found that no such address existed.

Later, Mr. Ishino approached the Indian Consulate-General in Japan, which referred the case to the Special Crime Branch of the CBI at Mumbai. After a thorough investigation, the police zeroed in on these three persons and arrested them, Ms. Rajeshwari said.

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