New Delhi, Mar 19 (IANS): The Cyber Cell of Delhi Police Crime Branch has busted a gang of fraudsters for cheating people on the pretext of selling a 'Rice Pulling' rare metal, which they claimed was certified by agencies like ISRO, DRDO and NASA.

A 53-year-old Delhi-based businessman was duped by the gang to the tune of approximately Rs 11 lakh. The accused persons had also formed many companies, all based in Kolkata.

The arrested accused Munna Lal, and his associates Thakur Das Mondal and Harendra Kumar, used to cheat people on the pretext of selling a precious radioactive material called "Rice Puller", a rare metal which they claimed was very expensive in the international market and was certified by ISRO, DRDO and NASA.

The alleged companies appointed some brokers across India, including Munna Lal. The task of such brokers was to search potential parties and lure them to purchase the antique precious rare metal.

The accused persons used to send videos to the potential buyers which were specially prepared by them, showing some experiments and specific characteristics of 'Rice Puller'.

The scam involved fraudsters marketing and selling a 'Rice Puller' device made up of radioactive material that they claimed possessed magical properties and attracted rice grains towards it. The fraudsters also claimed that the rice pulling device was certified by agencies like DRDO and ISRO.

The accused persons demanded money from the innocent people in the name of testing such radioactive material by ISRO and DRDO, claiming it to be an expensive process.

"The accused claimed that whenever the DRDO or ISRO would buy these radioactive materials, the client would get his share which would run into hundreds of crores of rupees," said Bhisham Singh, DCP, Crime branch.