Mumbai Crime: Woman dupes jeweller of Rs 5.5 lakh by selling fake gold ornaments

The women has identified her herself as V Lakshmi

The Dadar police have arrested a 54-year-old woman who duped a jeweller of Rs 5.50 lakh on the pretext of exchanging her gold ornaments and buying new ones. The woman had brought in 150 gm of gold ornaments and even got them tested for purity in the presence of the jeweller. But at the time of handing over, the woman changed the ornaments and handed over fake ones. The police traced the woman and arrested her within 24 hours.

The incident came to light when on May 18, 62-year-old Gauri Sohanlal Chaplot filed a complaint about being conned by a woman of Rs 5.5 lakh. The woman, who has been identified as V Lakshmi, had reached out to the jeweller.

Chaplot asked her to accompany him to Parel where they could check the purity of the ornaments, after which he would make the deal. At a gold shop in Parel, it was confirmed that all the golden chains were pure. While travelling back, the women demanded that she keep the ornaments with her. "That's when she exchanged the ornaments," said a police officer privy to the investigation.

In exchange for the jewellery, she bought ornaments worth Rs 3.16 lakh and got Rs 2.34 lakh in cash. After the women left, the jeweller got suspicious and checked the ornaments again, and found them to be fake. The Dadar police has registered an offence against women under IPC Sections 420 (cheating) 34 (common intention). The police traced the taxi driver that the woman used to employ every day, and nabbed her. Lakshmi told the police that she is resident of Tamil Nadu, but didn't have any ID cards.