A simple question — “Are you Bengali?” — was all it took for a gang of tricksters to allegedly hypnotise and rob a 19-year-old Mumbai goldsmith of ornaments worth over Rs 6 lakh in the heart of Masjid Bunder’s jewellery hub.

The complainant, Sanvik Gautam Jana, who hails from West Bengal and works as a goldsmith in Mumbai, had been sent by his employer on Thursday to deliver gold for die-cutting. He was carrying two gold bangles weighing 67 grams and a wire weighing 18 grams in his pocket.