7-member gang dealing in fake tusks held

Hyderabad: The North Zone Task Force Team seized two fake elephant tusks and arrested a seven-member gang for allegedly trying to sell them to 'innocent' persons. It seized seven cell phones from them. The arrested gang members - Sriram Ramu of picket, Madunuri Beerappa alias Raju of Konsari Bazar, Devarashetty Sandeep Kumar of Suchitra Colony, RR district, are all aged 27 and are involved in real estate business, Patil Purushotham Reddy (35) of Sarvadhama Nagar, native of Mulugundham village of Kurnool district, Mengarthi Suresh Kumar (39) of Chandrigiri Colony, Safilguda, Pagadala Vijay Kumar(32), Francis Shouri (32) of Malkajgiri, both sales managers in insurance business, Mudaliar Vijay Kumar(38) of Ramnagar. Syed Jahangir (42) of Khajigalli, who prepared the fake tusks, is absconding. They planned to sell the fake items for Rs 9 lakh with the help of Ramu, offering him a 25 per cent commission. Ramu and his friends had kept the tusks in Purushotham Reddy's house. Vijay Kumar arranged a party and informed the other accused. All (A-2 to A-7) assembled in the open land beside St. Andrews School, Bowenpally, and were waiting for the party. On a tip off, they were arrested. The gang members and the tusks were handed over to the Bowenpally Police.