Conmen posing as cops target 2, police fail to co-ordinate cases

2 officers from police station separately investigate similar cases that occurred within 1 hr

Conmen posing as cops target 2, police fail to co-ordinate cases

2 officers from police station separately investigate similar cases that occurred within 1 hr

Consider this: two incidents of conmen impersonating policemen to steal from elderly citizens occur within 45 minutes of each other in Kothrud area, but two police officers who are attached to the same police station and are investigating the individual cases remain completely unaware of the other case. This happened at the Kothrud police station and, as a result of the blinkered investigations, the police are unable to confirm whether the two cases could be the handiwork of the same group of conmen. These incidents also show that the special awareness drive against chain-snatching and similar roadside crimes being conducted by the police has done little to curb the occurrence of such offences.

In the first case, which was registered on July 2 at the Kothrud police station, an elderly man who had come to pay a visit to his sick relative was duped by three bike-borne conmen. Chintamani Navathe (74), originally from Nagpur, was duped by conmen who were impersonating the police and pretended to alert him of the growing cases of chain-snatching in the city. The conmen asked Navathe to remove his gold chain and ring and keep these safely in a bag, going on to offer their help in doing it. While they pretended to keep his gold ornaments in the bag, they tricked him and fled with the jewellery worth Rs 30,000.

The crime occurred while Navathe was returning from his morning exercise regime at Tathawade garden.
Assistant Police Inspector S D Deshmukh said that in spite of the special police drive to make citizens aware of such criminals being on the prowl, Navathe was not aware of the impersonation method resorted to by conmen since he had recently come to the city from Nagpur. "We have prepared sketches of the conmen on the basis of the description provided by the victim," Deshmukh said.

A similar incident took place at 8.30 am on the same day in the jurisdiction of the Kothrud police station. A 67-year-old woman was duped in a similar manner as in the Navathe case. Deshmukh was not aware of the second case. "I am not aware of the other case as it must be initially registered with other police chowky," Deshmukh said. In the second case, Bharati Sukand, a resident of Puja Park in Bhusari Colony, was cheated by two bikers near Bhusari Colony.

Sukand was on her way to a nearby temple when the two on the bike stopped to ask her the address of a "woman named Shinde who runs tuition classes". As Sukand stopped to answer their query, the two told her she should be alert as Shinde was a thief. They then asked her to remove her gold bangles worth Rs 52,000 and keep these safe. In the process, the two then took the gold jewellery and made off with it. PSI N L Jadhav, who said he was not aware of the previous case, said the victim was unable to give a description of the conmen. "I am not aware of the previous case. In this case, we are unable to prepare the sketches of the culprits," he said.u00a0

Unaware!
I am not aware of the other case as it must be initially registered with other police chowky
--u00a0Assistant Police Inspector S D Deshmukh, investigating duping of a 74-year-old man I am not aware of the previous case.

In this case, we are unable to prepare the sketches
-- PSI N L Jadhav, who is investigating the duping of a 67-year-old woman near Bhusari Colony