Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
By Dheeraj Fartode
Posing as policemen, four tricksters duped an elderly woman of her gold ornaments worth Rs 60,000 at Ram Nagar square on Monday by dishing out a lie that robbers had murdered and looted an aged woman in the area.
According to police, 68-year-old Sukanya Hari Rao, a resident of Plot No. 53, Flat No. 8, Makarand Apartment, Hill Road, Gokulpeth, was walking towards home from a lane. Two men in civil dress approached her and said “did you know that a woman -- Laxmi -- was murdered in the area by robbers for gold ornaments. It was published in newspaper.” Apparently the lady disbelieved them, but to make their story more reliable, the men stopped a youth (probably part of their drama), who was walking behind them. They slapped him and forcibly removed his gold chain and put it in his pocket.
Sensing trouble, Sukanya started walking away from the spot. A fourth person appeared on the scene and approached Sukanya. He showed his identity card and introduced himself as a cop. He firmly asked her to remove ornaments. When Sukanya removed gold bangles and two gold rings, he “helped” her wrap it in a piece of paper and put it in her bag. The woman, after reaching home, opened the packet only to find plastic bangles in it. Shocked and appalled by the cunning act of criminals posing as fake cops, she immediately approached Ambazari police station and lodged a complaint. Ambazari police have registered the case under Sections 420, 170 and 34 of Indian Penal Code.
Don’t fall prey to fraudsters
Nagpur police on Tuesday issued an advisory and appealed citizens not to fall pray to any such fraudsters. This fake cop menace is on the rise and particularly elderly women are being targetted by the tricksters who often force the gullible victims to part with their gold ornaments and later decamp with the real jewellery. “The Nagpur police is not checking gold ornaments of any citizen, if anyone asks for it please inform concern police station or police control room on phone no 100,” said a Nagpur police.
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