Fake cops hypnotise senior citizen, steal gold jewellery

Phoney cops are a menace, but ones adept at hypnosis are even more so. Around 9.30 am on Saturday, four people accosted 63-year-old Vijay Kulkarni at Sindhunagar area in Nigdi, put him ‘under a spell', and made away with gold ornaments worth Rs 60,000.

In his complaint at Nigdi police station, Kulkarni stated that he had gone to an adjacent stationery shop to buy some envelopes. While he was returning home, four people on two bikes directed him to stop and parked their vehicles at the street corner.

"They came up to me and said they were cops and asked me to hand over my gold chain and ring worth Rs 60,000 in total. Then one of the persons waved his palm in front of my face and I went into a trance. After that I believe I removed the ornaments and gave them to the quartet," said the victim in his statement.

Kulkarni added that he regained his senses after a couple of minutes and found that the four people had disappeared with the jewellery.

Assistant police inspector TV Bhosale of Nigdi police station said that prima facie it seemed that the complainant was hypnotised by the four conmen.

Meanwhile, in two other incidents involving fake cops - one in Chatushringi and the other in Wanwadi - the impostors made away with gold ornaments worth Rs 1.43 lakh.

In Chatushringi police station area, 30-year-old Priti Shetty, a resident of Anand Park in Aundh, was on her way to home on Saturday morning when two people posing as policemen approached her. They asked her to remove ornaments worth Rs 20,000, put them in a bag, and then escaped with the valuables, said assistant police inspector MN Walekar. In the other incident, 60-year-old Maya Bhatija, a resident of Oxford Village, fell prey to con cops and lost gold ornaments worth Rs 1.23 lakh on Saturday afternoon. u00a0

Rs 60K -u00a0The total value of the ornaments that the crooks took away from the victim

Chain snatchers had a field day
As many as five chain-snatching incidents took place on Saturday in the jurisdiction of different police stations, and gold ornaments worth Rs 2.80 lakh were looted. The episodes took place in Bharati Vidyapith, Nigdi, Hinjewadi, Chinchwad and Sangavi.