Illegal sale of 400-year-old conch foiled; four held

Hyderabad: Sleuths of north zone Task Force Team apprehended four persons for allegedly trying to sell an antique conch � 'Dakshina Murthy Shankham' for about Rs 10 crore and seized the Shankham, a Skoda car and five cell phones from them. The arrested were identified as Vuppalapati Praveen Reddy of Dilsukhnagar, Tadi Gurunadha Reddy of Kukatpally, Dugyala Ramu of Secunderabad and Vikram Singh of Somajiguda, in Hyderabad. According to the police, Praveen Reddy and Dugyala Ramu were trying to find a rich party to whom they could sell the antique Shankham. They were even claiming that the conch had divine powers and was of four hundred years old. The duo approached their friends Gurunadha Reddy and Vikram Singh and sought their help in finding the buyers for the antique conch. In return they promised them a commission of Rs 25 lakh each. On receiving information about the offer to sell antique conch, a decoy party was formed and negotiations were made with the gang members. After setting a deal for Rs 8 crore, all the four persons brought the Shankham to a place near Aruna Towers in Somajiguda, Punjagutta in a Skoda car. All the four persons were taken into custody. During interrogation, the accused confessed that the conch was given by Sandeep Reddy, a resident of Srinagar Colony to Praveen Reddy for sale. The police are trying to apprehend him. The inquiry revealed that the Shankham was weighing about 8.180 kg. It was covered with silver metal and decorated with costly coloured stones. The accused along with the seized property were handed over to Punjagutta Police Station.