Pune: In a bizarre incident reported in Pune, fraudster pretending to be the beggar or ‘fakir’ swallowed a gold ring of a 64 yr-old man on the pretext of ending his problems.
The resident of Vadgaonsheri, victim Arun Datir is now left with even more worries at the loss of his ring.
The victim when contacted narrates about the incident that left him shocked and also poorer by 30,000.
He said he was waiting to pick up his nephew on the footpath outside SSPMS near Regional Transport Office. “This is when two men dressed as ‘fakir’ came to me and asked for alms. I gave them a rupee thinking that they would go away”.
He says instead of walking away with the money he gave them, the two men started talking to him.
“One of them asked me if I had visited Shirdi. When I told them that I had gone there about three times, he gave me a coin bearing ‘Om’ sign and a photograph of Sai Baba,” Datir said.
Meanwhile, the second man looks at him and says the victim had lived a hard life full of struggles.
“To rid me of all my problems, he took out a palm cast in metal from his bag and asked me to remove my gold ring and put the same on it” the victim said.
The victim claimed he did not as such remember how did his ring fell on to the metal palm. “The suspect then murmured few words. He told me that ‘baba’ will now consume all your problems. With that, he picked up the ring and put it in his mouth,” he said.
At the frauds act, Datir stood shocked unable to believe what just happened. He immediately asked him to open his mouth. “I could not see the ring in his mouth. I thought the man swallowed my ring. I was helpless as it was not possible for me to get it back,” he added.
He said he was unable to understand what he should be doing next, while the two frauds left. He said, “I did not know what to do. After my nephew arrived, I immediately went to the Bund Garden police station and lodged a complaint against the duo”.
Sub Inspector N V Baisane, Bund Garden said the Police has registered an offence under section 420(cheating) of IPC against the suspects and is now investigating the matter.
“We are checking the CCTV footage on the road to ascertain the suspects’ identity,” the sub inspector said.