Pune: Two conmen, posing as police personnel, stole gold jewellery worth Rs6.24 lakh from an elderly woman in Warje after telling her to remove it for her safety. Under the pretext of helping her keep the jewellery safely in her handbag, the duo diverted the woman’s attention and fled.The incident occurred at Warje on Tuesday around 5.30pm when the woman was on her way to a temple in the area. The woman later approached the Warje Malwadi police and lodged a complaint. The police registered a case under sections 204 (personating a public servant) and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).An officer from the Warje Malwadi police told TOI that on Tuesday evening, the woman, aged 61, was walking towards a temple near her house to offer prayers. “While walking on the footpath, a man approached her and told her one person was calling her. There was another man standing near the entrance of a hall along the road,” the officer said.He said that the duo told the woman that they were police constables. The duo also told the woman that a murder happened in the area and she should remove her gold jewellery for safety. “Believing them, the woman removed her four gold bangles, gold chain, and Mangalsutra, all collectively worth Rs6.24 lakh. She was trying to keep it in her small purse. As the bangles were not fitting in the purse, the duo offered her help to keep it ‘safe’ in her bag,” he said.The officer said that one of them took the purse and bangles from the woman’s hand, pretended to keep it in the bag, and left. “The woman then went to the temple. When she checked her bag, she did not find her purse and the jewellery. She realised that she was duped and came to us,” the officer said.He said that the police have collected the CCTV footage from the area. “Our investigations are on,” he said.
