2 Arrested For Allegedly Duping People On Pretext Of Doubling Money By Using Chemical

Two people have been arrested in West Bengal, India, for allegedly deceiving people on the pretext of doubling their money by using a chemical, police announced Saturday.

The two unidentified suspects were apprehended Friday in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district. Police recovered unaccounted cash worth Rs 4 lakh (around $5,300) from them upon their arrest, NDTV reported.

Police are still searching for a third suspect allegedly involved in the racket. The third suspect was also not named in the report.

Basanti Police Station acted on a complaint lodged by Asit Halder, a resident of the Gosaba area. He allegedly lost Rs 6 lakh (around $8,000) after the fraudsters claimed a chemical can double his money overnight when it is mixed with the cash.

Halder was lured by the three suspects to a house in the Jyotishpur area of the district. He brought Rs 6 lakh in cash and was told to put the money in a container and keep it in a room.

Halder was then instructed to get a chemical from another room and pour it into the container where the money was kept.

After doing so, he was told to bring the container back home and open it after a day.

The following day, the man opened the container but found only bundles of blank paper instead of money, according to a senior officer of the Basanti Police Station.

Explaining the modus operandi of the racket, the officer said, "The accused had removed the money from the container and put bundles of blank papers in it when Halder had gone to the other room to bring the chemical."