Conman flees with widow's gold after promising pension

A 70-year-old widow lost 45 grams of gold jewellery to a conman’s sleight of hand in southern Bengaluru.

Bharathi Rao was walking to a grocery shop near her home in Hongasandra on Saturday morning when a man in his 40s walked up to her and struck a conversation. He asked if she was getting the old age pension. When she replied in the negative, he promised to help her get the Rs 5,000 monthly pension and requested that she accompany him to a bank where he would file an application on her behalf. She agreed, but he took her on his motorbike to a studio to get her passport-sized photographs.

He, however, asked her to remove a gold chain and bangles that she was wearing so that she looked poor in the photos. Rao handed over the jewellery to him. Once the photography was done, he gave her a box, saying he’s kept the jewellery inside. He also said her house keys that she had given him were also inside. He asked her to open the box only after getting home, saying chain snatchers are roaming around. He promised to visit her to take her signature on the application form once the photos were ready.

An unsuspecting Rao did as told. Her world came apart only after she got home and opened the box. There was no jewellery in it. She screamed and collaped out of shock. It took her some time to be her normal self. She later filed a complaint with Bommanahalli police.

Speaking to DH, Rao said she had been living alone after her husband passed away in August. She gets rice from society and borrows sambar from neighbours. The jewellery was her only property. She had been thinking of borrowing money by pledging the jewellery but now that was also gone.

An officer from Bommanahalli police said they had registered an FIR under cheating and prepared a sketch of the suspect based on Rao’s account. Efforts are on to track him down.