Chennai: Evoking scenes from popular Hindi movie Special 26 and its Tamil adoption Thaana Serntha Kootam, five men posing as income tax officials raided an 80-year-old woman’s house in the city and escaped with her gold jewels, on Wednesday evening. The victim was identified as Neela (80) of North Ram Nagar in Adambakkam.
On Wednesday evening, a five-member gang arrived at Neela’s residence in a car and claimed that they were from Income Tax department. The gang also told Neela, who is living alone, that raids had been carried out at her son Venkatesan’s office and his residence in Madipakkam.
“Before she could call and verify the fact with her son, the gang directed her to switch off the phone and asked her to hand over the keys of bureau and lockers,” the police said.
Taken aback by the sudden visit of ‘I-T sleuths’, the elderly woman budged to their orders. “After a thorough combing of her house, the fake officials had managed to find eight sovereigns of jewels and Rs 500 cash only,” the police added.
The gang also made Neela sign in the ‘seizure mahazar’. Two of them took the jewels to their car by telling Neela that they were going to weigh them to determine the exact amount of ‘seizure’.
Meanwhile, third and fourth persons went out to the car on the pretext of taking stamp pad to get Neela’s thumb impression. The last ‘officer’ suddenly ran out and locked Neela inside the house before fleeing the spot, the police added.
Baffled, Neela called her son and came to know that the entire raid story at her son’s place was a fabrication. Based on the complaint from Neela, Adambakkam police have registered a case and are investigating. The police also secured CCTV grabs on the streets to identify the car and the gang.
