Mumbai, Dec. 15 -- Five members of an inter-state gang were arrested for cheating a 51-year-old man of Rs.26 lakh by luring him into buying fake gold jewellery, which they claimed was recovered from an excavation site in Nashik. According to the Malad police, the victim, Dinesh Mehta, a resident of Somwar Bazaar, Malad (West), approached them on December 5. Mehta, a businessman, told the police that the main accused, Baboolal Bhalaram Waghela, 55, had initially contacted on November 26, claiming that gold ornaments weighing around 900 g had been unearthed during excavation work behind a temple in Nashik. The police said Waghela offered the complainant two options, either to sell the ornaments together or to buy them directly from him to avoid paying a middleman's commission. The accused also showed Mehta the ornaments and gave him a few yellow-metal beads as samples. When Mehta's jeweller tested the beads, they proved to be gold indeed. Mehta then paid Rs.25 lakh in cash in exchange for the jewellery, but when the ornaments were later examined in detail by a jeweller, they were found to be fake. After analysing CCTV footage from the area, the police identified five people involved in the scam. Two of them were traced to Gandhinagar in Gujarat, while two others were found in Virar East in Palghar. The prime accused, Waghela, was arrested from his residence in Kalol, Gandhinagar. A search of his house revealed Rs.15.45 lakh in cash, believed to be part of the cheated amount, and a mobile phone allegedly used in the crime. The police said that Waghela has previous cheating cases against him too. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the BNS. While Rs.15.45 lakh has been recovered so far, a police officer said, "We are actively tracing the absconding accused and continuing efforts to recover the remaining money."...