Fake cops dupe 52-year-old woman, flee with gold chain
MUMBAI: A 52-year-old woman from Mazgaon was cheated by four men who posed as policemen and fled with her gold chain weighing 17 grams – on Tuesday.
The victim – Asha Vishwakarma – was on a morning walk from Anjerwadi to Mazgaon circle, when she was stopped at Dr Mascarenhas Road – an isolated spot. The fake policemen told her that she should not wear gold ornaments while stepping out early in the morning or late in the evening, as incidents of chain snatching were on the rise.
“I was out for a walk around 6 am with my relative, when we were stopped by two people who showed me their police identity cards and told me that since it was December 6 and a rush was expected on the roads, I should not be wearing gold at such an odd hour,” said Vishwakarma.
The two fake policemen then told her to hand over the gold chain and they would wrap it in a piece of paper and hand it back to her. They also stopped a biker who handed his gold chain to them. They wrapped it in a piece of paper and gave it back to him.
Later they asked the woman also to cooperate and replaced her gold with a fake one.
“Though I was sceptical a bit, they took my gold chain, wrapped it in a piece of paper and asked me to tie it to my saree till I reached home,” said Vishwakarma. “However, I suspected something wrong, so after moving a small distance away from them, I opened the paper and found the chain to be fake.” She added that she went back to the spot and found that the frauds have fled. She then went a little ahead and found few cops in uniform and narrated the entire incident.
A case has been registered by the Byculla police station against four unknown people for cheating and impersonation.
“Looks like the other bikers were also involved in the conspiracy and this was done to gain the confidence of Vishwakarma. We are checking footage of the CCTV cameras covering the spot to trace the accused” said a police officer.