Turkmenistan national duped of $7000 by men claiming to be cops in Gurugram
In the police complaint, the victim, Shukur Shukuro, said that the accused men were not dressed in uniform but claimed to be police officers.
A Turkmenistan national, who recently came to the city for the treatment of his three-year-old daughter was allegedly duped of $7,000 by two men, who posed as police officers and stole money from his bag on the pretext of conducting a routine inspection , the police said on Friday.
The police said the incident took place on Thursday afternoon when the accused men intercepted the foreign national and his wife and daughter, when they were walking to a friend’s place in Sector 38, about 100 metres from their guest house.
Shiv Kumar, assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Sadar police station, said the two men stopped their car in front of the victim’s family and told them that they were policemen and as part of a routine inspection, asked them to produce their passport and identification documents.
“The accused men also asked the victim to hand over a bag that they were carrying. While checking the contents of the bag, they stole $7,000 and drove away,” said Kumar.
In the police complaint, the victim, Shukur Shukuro, said that the accused men were not dressed in uniform but claimed to be police officers.
“They checked our passports and asked about the other bag. They checked the bag and took $7,000 from it and ran away (sic),” the victim said in the FIR.
The police said the complainant’s three-year-old daughter was undergoing treatment for an illness at a private hospital in Sector 38 and the complainant had taken up a room with his family at a guest house in the vicinity of the hospital. They belonged to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.
The police suspected the role of an intercity gang, who had similarly duped an Iraqi national of $1,000 near Medanta Hospital on October 20 and a Baghdad-based couple of $3,000 in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, on October 19. In both cases, the accused men had inspected the luggage of the foreign nationals, claiming to be police personnel who were conducting raids to check for narcotics.
“The modus operandi used by the conmen in all the cases is the same. The accused men use a car, are dressed in plainclothes and claim to be cops. They target foreign nationals, who are in the city for medical tourism, or their relatives and ask them to produce passports and visa documents,” a police officer, privy to the investigation, said.
ASI Kumar said that police were checking the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage from the area to trace the accused men and their car.
A case has been registered against the accused men under sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code at Sadar police station, the police said.
BOX-
On October 20, an Iraqi national, who was suffering from cancer and was undergoing treatment at a city hospital, was duped of $1,000 by four men posing as policemen near Kamilia Palace Hospital opposite Medanta Hospital.
On October 19, a Baghdad couple was duped of $3,000 by two men posing as policemen in Lajpat Nagar in Delhi. The woman was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the capital.
On December 6, an Iraqi national, whose brother-in-law was undergoing treatment at a city hospital, had filed a police complaint alleging that $5,400 was stolen from his luggage by a staffer of the guest house in Sector 39 where he was staying.