Men posing as cops dupe women of their jewellery

A gang of conmen posing as policemen had a field day on Tuesday, by relieving women of their gold ornaments in five separate incidents. 

They were on a ‘mission’ to prevent chain-snatching incidents.

The incidents were reported from across the City, including Jayanagar, Girinagar, Tilak Nagar, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Ramamurthy Nagar. Senior police officers told Deccan Herald that they suspected at least two gangs of four men each operating in the City.

They said one of the gangs struck at Girinagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar while the other at three different places. All the miscreants were aged between 25 years and 30 years and spoke in Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. Both the gangs have made away with a total of 250 gram of gold ornaments.

In the early hours of Tuesday, two men posing as police on Kalkare Main Road, told Kamala Madhureshan (62) that a woman was killed on the next road for gold ornaments.
They convinced her that she remove her gold and keep it safe in her bag.

 As she removed her ornaments weighing about 32 gram, they took the jewellery and wrapped it in a piece of paper and kept it in her bag. When Kamala returned home, she found a stone wrapped in the paper.

A case has been registered at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station.

Police said the two men conversed in Tamil and Kannada and even flashed duplicate ID cards to the elderly woman.

Four ‘cops’ from the ‘Central Crime Branch’ approached Lalitha (69) on two bikes, while she was returning home after visiting a temple on Vidya Nagar Main Road in Girinagar.

They said they were on a special drive to prevent chain-snatching incidents in the City and convinced her to remove her chain and four bangles, worth Rs 2 lakh.

They kept the jewels in a cover and put it safely in her handbag. When Lalitha opened the cover at her home, she found some stones in them. The Girinagar police have registered a case and are investigating.

The gang struck again in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. The gang of four men introduced themselves as cops, flashed duplicate ID cards to Manjula (50), who was on her way to office and repeated the same story. Manjula too removed her jewels and found a stone wrapped in a paper when she checked her bag in the office.

A case has been registered at Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station.  At 10:30 am, a gang of four men approached Yamuna (50), a resident of Tilak Nagar, who was returning home after visiting a temple in Jayanagar 9th Block.

The gang repeated its modus operandi and made away with 60 gram of gold ornaments from her.

The gang struck again near Sudarshan School in Jayanagar. It approached Asha (50), a resident of Koramangala, who was on her way to her painting class, and made away with 20 gram of gold from her. Cases have been registered at the Tilak Nagar police station.