Hyderabad: A pawnbroker and his employee cheated around 200 farmers of a village who mortgaged their jewellery with them. Rachakonda Police nabbed the duo and recovered 67 tolas of gold and 18 kg silver from them worth Rs 27 lakh. The accused are Sunil Sharma and his aide Laxman Jat. Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat said the victims were illiterate farmers, and some of them were even working as farm labourers.

Sunil was running a pawn broking shop in Motakondur village in Yadadri district. Many villagers from Motakondur and surrounding villages pawned their jewellery with him for loans. In December, one Botla Ramesh pawned seven tola gold ornaments and 28 tola silver ornaments with Sunil and took Rs 78,000 as loan. He paid back the loan a few days later, but Sushil did not return the jewellery. He and his employee went missing from next day. When he did not open the shop, Ramesh filed a complaint with the police.


On Monday, the police arrested them at Yadadri bus station and recovered gold and silver jewellery worth around Rs 27 lakh. “This business in villages is based on trust. But people should be careful as most of the victims in this case were going through a tough time after losing their jewellery. Some had even decided to end lives,” the commissioner said. A case was booked under Sections 406 and 420 and the Pawn Brokers Act. The arrested were remanded to judicial custody.