Hyderabad, Aug 10: Hyderabad Police have arrested four persons for cheating people on the pretext of locating hidden treasure, officials said on Monday.

The sleuths of the Commissioner’s Task Force, Shamshabad Zone, in coordination with the Rajendra Nagar police, busted a racket involving cheating of innocent persons on the false pretext of locating hidden treasure (Gupta Nidhulu) buried beneath houses, a police officer said.

Police investigation revealed that the accused had cheated 11 people to the tune of around Rs one crore in different areas.

According to K.S. Rao, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Taskforce, the accused used to approach innocent and gullible people, claiming that they possessed special knowledge and could locate hidden treasure buried underground in residential premises. After digging the ground, they used to plant a sack containing coal along with duplicate gold-coated coins. Later, they absconded after stating that it would take some time to convert the coal into gold.

The accused have been identified as Mohd Munawar, Syed Ali Ashraf, Mohd Haji and Mohd Salman.

Police seized two four-wheelers, one auto-rickshaw, two motorcycles, four cell phones, 25 fake gold coins, coal, soil and puja material from their possession.

According to police, the prime accused, Munawar, was engaged in car denting and painting work. As his income was not sufficient to meet his family expenses, he allegedly hatched a plan to cheat gullible people by claiming that he had special knowledge and the ability to locate hidden treasure (Gupta Nidhulu) buried beneath their houses. He contacted his friends, who joined him in the illegal activity with the intention of earning easy money.

A case was registered against the accused at Rajendra Nagar Police Station under BNS sections 318(4), 351(2), 61(2) r/w 3(5).

The police said that it has come to their notice that, in recent times, some fraudsters have been moving around streets, villages, and towns claiming that hidden/underground treasures (Gupta Nidhulu) are available at certain places and are cheating the gullible people by making false promises.

Police have cautioned the general public not to believe or fall victim to such persons and their fraudulent activities.

New Delhi: The expenditure on India’s 1,847 major infrastructure projects, currently being implemented by the Centre, has reached Rs 21.97 lakh crore (as of June 2026), which represents over 54 per cent of the total investment of Rs 40.54 lakh crore earmarked for these mega projects, reflecting steady progress in the pace of work, according to a factsheet issued by the government on Monday.

Many projects have reached advanced stages of completion, with around 709 projects exceeding 80 per cent physical progress, while another 337 projects have passed 80 per cent of financial completion, the factsheet states.

The transport and logistics sector leads with the 1,341 projects worth Rs 22.32 lakh crore, reflecting the focus on connectivity.

These projects are playing a crucial role in pushing up the country’s economic growth rate and creating more jobs.

Efficient monitoring of infrastructure projects is being carried out through PAIMANA (Project Assessment, Infrastructure Monitoring and Analytics for Nation-Building) digital platform. Developed by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), PAIMANA is used for monitoring ongoing Central Sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore or more.

In addition to strengthening project monitoring, PAIMANA has expanded its role to support infrastructure performance monitoring through a dedicated Performance Monitoring Dashboard which was launched on April 16, 2026.

The Performance Monitoring Dashboard brings together performance indicators across key infrastructure sectors in a unified digital platform. The indicators are compiled from official data provided by the concerned Ministries and Departments and are updated periodically based on the latest available information.

A detailed indicator framework spans six infrastructure sub-sectors. These are Power, Civil Aviation, Telecommunications, Railways, Roads, and Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

The Performance Monitoring Dashboard has now been expanded to 165 indicators. This expansion includes the addition of 54 new indicators, significantly enhancing the comprehensiveness of infrastructure performance monitoring.

A single digital interface allows monitoring of performance sector by sector. It offers interactive visualisation and time-series analysis for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders.

A centralised dashboard delivers one cross-sector view of infrastructure sectors. This capability deepens inter-sectoral analysis.

The current framework gauges sectoral performance through growth rates. It reviews year-on-year, month-on-month and cumulative growth, targets and capacity utilisation in chosen sectors, the official statement added.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Police suspect that a Bengaluru-based techie who went missing from the historic Shivagange Hill in Bengaluru Rural district may have planned to take his own life, with investigators recovering searches from his laptop that allegedly indicate he had researched the consequences of falling from the hill.

The missing techie, identified as Advait Upadhyaya, a native of Indore in Madhya Pradesh who was residing in Kadugodi in Bengaluru, went missing after arriving at Shivagange for trekking on Friday.

A major search operation has been underway for the past three days, involving the police, fire and emergency services, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and other personnel. Teams are searching the difficult terrain of Shivagange Hill using drones and other modern equipment.

According to police sources, the investigation has revealed several details that have strengthened the suspicion that Upadhyaya may have planned to take the extreme step.

Police recovered a laptop from his residence and managed to access it during the investigation. They allegedly found that Upadhyaya had used an AI tool to search for information about the time it would take to die if he fell from Shivagange Hill.

Investigators also found searches relating to the height of the hill and the possible consequences of a fall. According to the police, an AI-generated response suggested that a person falling from the hill at around 7.30 a.m. could potentially die.

Based on these searches and other evidence gathered during the investigation, police suspect that Upadhyaya may have travelled to Shivagange on August 4 itself, ahead of his planned trekking trip on August 7.

On August 7, Upadhyaya reportedly began trekking at Shivagange. Soon after starting the trek, he sent a photograph to a woman to whom he was engaged. He subsequently became unreachable.

Police have also obtained a photograph of Upadhyaya taken by another tourist while he was reportedly at the hilltop. Investigators are examining the photograph and other available evidence to establish his movements before he went missing.

The search operation is being led by Nelamangala Town Circle Inspector Bharat Gowda and involves police personnel, SDRF teams and experts familiar with the difficult terrain.

The teams are using drone cameras to scan inaccessible portions of the hill and are searching narrow, deep and steep sections where a person could potentially be trapped or have fallen.

The Shantala Drop, a popular tourist spot atop Shivagange, is one of the most challenging areas for search teams because of its steep terrain and difficult access.

Officials are continuing the search while examining technical and other evidence to determine exactly what happened to Upadhyaya.

Police have not yet confirmed that Upadhyaya has died and are continuing efforts to locate him. The search operation is likely to continue until the missing techie is traced.