Sleight of hand turns gold to mud

Updated on: 08 January,2010 08:13 AM IST |
Imran Gowhar |

Sr citizen loses valuables to con job

Sr citizen loses valuables to con job

A 60-year-old woman, Lakshmi Devi, was duped by a gang led by a woman who promised to share a sum of Rs 6,600 she claimed to have found on the road but instead made away with Devi's gold valuables worth over Rs 1 lakh. The woman substituted Lakshmi's ornaments with mud while tying it to the end of her saree. Lakshmi, a resident of Rammurthy Nagar, was returning from a blood test at Shivaji Nagar. A pregnant-looking woman approached her to enquire about an address. The woman told Lakshmi she had found Rs 6,600 on the road and asked her if she would like to keep half, and Devi agreed.

As they talked an auto rickshaw driver approached them and asked if they had seen some money on the road. The two denied it. After he left, they reached an isolated place and the woman asked Devi to remove her valuables and keep it safe. Lakshmi did as she was told and the woman helped her tie the valuables at a corner of her saree. Now, the driver came again and said he had proof the money was with them, at which point the unknown woman handed over the money to him and left.

Devi then checked her saree corner to find mud instead of her gold chain, a pair of gold bangles, earrings and finger ring.

"We are on the look out for the auto rickshaw driver," said au00a0 police officer.