Hyderabad: Thieves masquerading as police officials targeted two women in the city and robbed gold worth lakhs.
One of the victims was identified as ex-TRS MP Manda Jagannath’s wife Manda Savithri. In both cases, attention diverting techniques were used by the gang. They diverted attention on the pretext of giving instructions about precautions on safety and fled with the valuables. It is learnt that there were similar incidents in other places too which were not reported.
In the first incident, Ranganayaki, 65, a resident of East Marredpally was walking near Kasturba Gandhi College. While she was waiting to cross the road, an unidentified person approached her and introduced himself as a cop. He asked her to meet the inspector who was at a little distance from there. The old woman believed him and followed. She was then introduced to the other accused.
“They informed her that wearing gold ornaments and walking on the road could be dangerous. They also convinced her that a person was murdered and robbed in the area recently.” said B. Narahari, detective inspector, Marredpally.
Believing them, the victim removed gold ornaments of 90 grams and the crooks on the pretext of helping her, wrapped them in a paper and while returning it, replaced it with stones. She realised that she had been cheated after walking a little distance and by the time she turned back, the crooks had fled.
Using the same modus operandi, Manda Savithri too was robbed.
In the morning at around 10.30 am, while she was walking alone on road number 2, in Saroornagar, a group targeted her. She was carrying wedding cards of her son in a bag. She too was approached by an unidentified person who asked her to come and meet his senior official.
“She initially was reluctant to go and also questioned him. However, later she followed him. She was informed that it was dangerous to walk on the roads wearing ornaments. She removed ornaments weighing about 80 grams and the crooks on the pretext of helping her wrapped the ornaments and while keeping it in her bag replaced it with pebbles.” said H. Prabhaker, SI, Saroornagar.
