Thane: Conmen 'hypnotise' pet shop owner, cheat her of Rs 4,000

CCTV footage of the shop, which shows the trio talking to the owner

This veterinary physician based in Ambernath can surely blame the government's demonetisation move for getting ‘hypnotised' and cheated of '4,000. Three unknown people approached the vet clinic-cum-pet shop that she runs, on Wednesday and cheated her of the amount on the pretext of getting change. A case has been registered at Shivaji Nagar police station, where the complainant claimed that she was ‘hypnotised' by the customers. The matter is being investigated.

Walk away with change
According to police, complainant Dr Meghna Wadke runs the shop near Gajanan Mandir along with Dr Supriya Kapse. On Wednesday when they opened the shop in the evening, two men and a woman entered around 7:30pm and asked for a dog belt. Wadke said, "The price of the belt was '300, but the woman gave me a '2,000 note. As I did not have change, she took the note back. At that point, one of the men suggested buying a ball of '150 as well.

Thereafter, they started confusing me by asking for different designs of the belt." In the meantime, the second man asked Kapse for some calcium medicines for his dog. Kapse said, "While I was busy attending to him, the woman again gave the '2,000 note to Wadke. Later, she took it back again but confirmed paying for the belt and ball. When she asked for the change, Wadke gave her '1,550. Hence, they took away the 2,000 rupee note, the change of '1,550 and both the belt and ball worth '450. Wadke could understand that she was being cheated but somehow she was not able to stop them."

A senior officer from Shivaji Nagar police station said, "We have registered a case against the trio and are further investigating the matter on the basis of the CCTV footage. The footage shows that the woman was wearing a saree, while the two men were wearing caps."

A case has been registered at Shivaji Nagar police station under section 417 and 420 of IPC.