A group of conmen had a field day on Saturday as they made away with gold jewels worth `7 lakh and `4.67 lakh cash by tricking six people, including two elderly women.
In four separate incidents, they cheated women by posing as policemen, while they used attention diversion tactics in two other cases. Police suspect the same gang may have committed all the crimes.
Saraswathamma, a resident of CPV Block in Ganganagar, was walking near Gopal Medical Centre along with her grandson at 10.45 am when a group of three men dressed as policemen accosted her.
One of them produced his identity card and tried to start a conversation with the woman. When she kept walking without showing any interest, another man accosted her and introduced himself as a Criminal Investigation Department officer. He said thieves were on the prowl and advised her not to wear gold jewellery. Another miscreant, posing as a passerby, removed his chain, watch and ring and put them in a handkerchief. He told the woman he was following the policemen’s instructions.
Saraswatamma then agreed to put her 120-gram gold chain into a plastic bag she was carrying. Unbeknown to her, one of the miscreants took away the gold chain while attempting to help her put it into the bag. “I got suspicious and checked the bag after taking a few steps. Though I raised an alarm, the miscreants managed to escape on a bike,” she said.
R T Nagar police have started investigation. It is said the miscreants were speaking in Kannada, Tamil and Urdu and are suspected to be from Bidar in North Karnataka.
In a similar incident, Ratna Bai, a resident of Akkappa Block in J C Nagar, was robbed of her gold chain weighing 100 grams by a gang near a temple. The conmen approached Ratna Bai and asked her to be cautrious as there had been a murder in the area and the accused were on the run. They then asked her to keep her gold chain away. When she was putting the chain into her purse, they snatched it and fled the scene. J C Nagar police are investigating.
Miscreants used the same modus operandi to make away with a 60-gram gold chain from Vishnu Priya, a resident of Ramamurthynagar.
In Jalahalli, Lakshmamma, a housewife, was targeted by two miscreants who repeated the story of a murder and snatched away her 80-gram gold chain.
In separate incidents, miscreants managed to distract two people and escaped with `4.67 lakh cash.
Madhukumar B (34), a site engineer, had withdrawn `3 lakh from a bank at 12.30 pm. The money was supposed to be be distributed to labourers.
He had kept the money in his motorbike’s petrol tank cover. When he was about to start his bike, two miscreants told him there was dirt on his shirt. When he looked down to check, he noticed that he also had a flat tyre.
He then got down and started pushing the vehicle. Later, he noticed the money missing from the tank cover and immediately informed the police.
HAL police have registered a case and are investigating the case.
Similarly, Yuvaraj (40) had withdrawn `1.67 lakh cash from a bank and had kept it in a bag in his car. When Yuvaraj stopped his car near Sir MV College to answer a phone call, miscreants told him that his `10 note had fallen on the ground.
When he bent to pick up the note, the miscreants escaped with the booty.