Mulund police alert senior citizens about conmen posing as cops

Mulund police in Mumbai have warned senior citizens about fraudsters posing as policemen to steal their valuables. Four cases have been reported in the past four months.

Mumbai: The Mulund police have alerted senior citizens against those who may target them by posing as policemen for perpetrating fraud.

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The police have circulated a video for awareness purposes, highlighting a few recent cases wherein certain suspects had posed as police officials to dupe gullible senior citizens then decamped with their valuables.

“We have registered a total of four cases in the last four months, in which elderly men or women were targeted by a group of two to three persons who always claimed they were policemen,” a police officer said.

“The accused are targeting only senior citizens. We have been trying to nab the culprit but meanwhile while looking at three-to-four cases in the recent past in this connection, we thought we should circulate a video for public awareness,” said Kantilal Kothambire, senior police inspector of the Mulund police station.

Case 1: Recently, Hemlata Chauthani, 68, a resident of Mulund (West), was duped of her gold ornaments worth ₹80,000 by three men posing as policemen when she was on her way to a temple on August 8.

The accused then helped the victim take off her two gold bangles and wrapped them in a plastic wrapper and instead of keeping it in her bag, they replaced it with an empty wrapper, and made away with her jewellery.

A case was registered in Mulund police station and police have been searching for the accused.

Case 2: On July 1, Shakuntala Jagdale, 69, who lives in Mulund (West) was targeted by two persons who claimed to be policemen. The accused, using a similar modus operandi, convinced the victim, who was walking on RRT Road, to remove her gold chain worth ₹90,000 and instead of keeping it in the victim’s bag, they stole it using sleight of hand.

In her statement, she said that a man had approached her and told her that his associate is helping senior citizens and poor people by distributing clothes and giving them ₹50,000 each. He told her that she could get the money and on the pretext of filling in a form, he took her aside. He then told her that the gold chain she was wearing might not help her cause.

He helped her remove the chain but instead of keeping it in her bag, he stealthily kept it in his pocket and disappeared.

Case 3: In May, a 66-year-old man was walking on NS road, on his way to a bank, a man approached and convinced him that he had visited all the holy places in India and could help the man get over his difficult times. He asked the victim to remove his gold chain and ring which the accused wrapped in a piece of paper and while giving him some stone from his pocket, he quietly slipped the gold ornaments into his pocket and fled.