Mumbai, May 22: A brazen gang of thieves posing as policemen are having the run of South Mumbai, looting gullible women of their valuables. According to victims, the gang makes it seem like there is a nakabandi happening nearby, pretends to help elderly women, diverts their attention and then escapes with their jewellery.
Police say the gang operates only in the mornings. There have been at least five such cases in South Mumbai in recent times, two of which happened within the span of a few minutes on Thursday.
According to the police, around 8.30am, 63-year-old Stella Taro, a resident of Charni Road, was walking near Charni Road station when three men in plainclothes accosted her.
“They told the woman that a crime had occurred nearby, hence a nakabandi had been organised. They then asked her to put all her ornaments in her purse, as it was not safe to wear them so early in the morning,” said a police officer.
The unsuspecting woman handed over her purse to one of the ‘policemen’ to hold as she started taking off her jewellery. As she was busy handing each piece over to the fake cop, unknown to her he was quietly slipping them into his pocket, all the while pretending to put it in her purse.
“Finally, he zipped up the woman’s purse and handed it to her telling her to get back home as soon as possible. But, after the woman had walked some distance, she decided to check whether all her jewellery was inside her purse. She was shocked to find not a single piece inside. She raced back to the spot, but of course, nobody was there,” the officer said. The victim then registered a case with the VP Road police station against three unknown persons. The woman lost jewellery worth Rs42,000.
Minutes later, another bunch of thieves, believed to belong to the same gang, struck at Crawford Market.
Thane resident Trupti Adivarekar, 54, was walking near the market, when she was accosted by two persons around 9.15am. “They used a similar modus operandi and took ornaments worth Rs1.20 lakh from Adivarekar. A case has been registered against two unknown persons in this regard at MRA Marg police station,” said the officer.
The officer said that there has been a spate of such robberies in South Mumbai this month. “We believe that the gang has different modules that operate in various areas of South Mumbai at the same time,” the officer said.
The police believe that this is a new gang that has started operations in South Mumbai and has been targeting women. “Such cases were earlier seen in the suburbs. This new gang has been committing their crimes in the early morning hours as the crowd is not much and also because elderly women are more vulnerable,”
–Agencies