04 February,2010 10:16 AM IST | | Madhusudan Maney
'North Indian' conmen target elderly women, make away with jewellery worth Rs 3.4 lakh
While the city police commissioner is boasting that his force has solved around 222 cases in January alone, a gang of thieves posing as cops is on the prowl. Believed to be a gang from North India, the fake cops have done away with gold jewellery worth Rs 3.4 lakh, using fake police identity cards this weekend. While three cases were reported on Saturday, two more came to light on Sunday. The gang has targeted women over 50 years of age.
Mangalamma (63), one of the victims from the Jnana Bharathi area, said, "I was going to church at around 10 am on Saturday, someone called me from behind. When I ignored it, someone claiming to be a cop tapped my shoulder and told me in Hindi that a murder had taken place the previous night. He told me to put my jewellery away, since it was not safe."
"I removed it and kept it in my purse, but one of them gave me a plastic bag for it. In-all this, a bike came to pick him up, and they drove away. When I checked the bag, I was saw a few pieces of paper in it," said Mangalamma. She filed a police complaint.
In Saturday's second incident, Shivalingamma (51) from Nagarbhavi lost jewellery worth Rs 50,000. Also, Nagarathnamma (75) from Rajajinagar was relieved of gold jewellery worth Rs 90,000.u00a0
On Sunday another two such incidents took place in Koramangala and Kengeri, where the fake cops made away with jewellery worth Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000 respectively.
