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60-year-old woman duped of cash, jewellery with promise of gold in exchange in Chinchwad
The woman handed over cash and jewellery worth ₹49,500 to the accused who pretended to sell her gold beads in exchange of cash in Chinchwad
PUNE: A 60-year-old woman was cheated into handing over cash and jewellery worth ₹49,500 by two women who pretended to sell her gold beads in exchange of cash in Chinchwad. The transaction happened around 12:30pm on Thursday in Chinchwad.
The complainant realised that the women had handed her soil in a cloth packet instead of the promised gold.
“The complainant is a cleaning worker and lives in Wakad. The women had covered their faces while speaking with her,” said sub-inspector Navnath Kudale of Chinchwad police station.
The women approached the senior citizen while she was near the jewellery shop. One of them told her that the other woman had a lot of gold beads but she did not have any cash and needed the money in order to travel to Solapur, according to the complaint.
The two then took the woman under a tree and offered her five tola (10 grammes) gold beads and asked her to hand over the gold she was wearing and some cash. The woman went to an ATM in Chinchwad and withdrew ₹19,500 in cash. To compensate for the 50 grammes gold that she was falsely promised by the two women, she gave her mangalsutra (necklace) worth ₹20,000 and gold earrings along with the cash.
The women then handed over a bundle of clothes bound together to the complainant and told her that the gold beads were in it. After the women left, the complainant realised that the bundle had soil in it and not gold, according to her complaint.
A case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Chinchwad police station against the two unidentified women.
In September 2020, two isolated incidents were recorded of similar nature - one with a 70-year-old victim in Sadashiv peth and another with a 65-year-old victim in Pulgate area.
In both the cases, the women were approached by women who cited an emergency and offered lucrative deals in exchange for the complainant’s existing jewellery. While the 70-year-old gave away necklace worth ₹9,000, the 65-year-old a chain worth over ₹10,000.
In January, a 39-year-old jeweller in Hadapsar lost gold and cash worth close to ₹50 lakh to tricksters who claimed that the sand they had would turn into gold upon heating. After handing over 4kg of such sand, the men took ₹30 lakh cash and close to 500 gramme gold from the jeweller and fled.
