Elderly woman duped in name of govt scheme

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Two unidentified miscreants tricked a 60-year-old woman into removing her gold ornaments under the pretext of helping her apply for the Employment Guarantee Scheme. The incident occurred near GM Plaza, opposite the RTO office, around 10 am on Friday.

The suspects fled with her jewellery, and police are yet to make any arrests. The victim, Shakuntala Gaikwad, a resident of Kingaon (Phulambri), was in the city to visit her daughter in Begumpura. She had dropped another daughter at the railway station that morning and was walking toward the RTO when a man stopped her, claiming forms for the employment scheme were being filled nearby.

Posing poor for eligibility, she lost gold worth thousands

The man took her near a hotel beside GM Plaza and convinced her to remove her gold jewellery to "appear poor" and qualify for the scheme. Trusting his words, Shakuntala handed over a 2-gram gold earring, a 1.5-gram mangalsutra with 30 beads, and another 7.5-gram mangalsutra with 80 beads. The duo then sped off on a motorcycle. Only later did she realise she had been deceived. This is not an isolated case. In recent weeks, senior citizens in the city have repeatedly fallen prey to similar cons including fake cops and bogus government scheme agents. Yet, not a single accused has been nabbed so far, raising serious questions about the city's policing on such repeat offences.