Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
While the city is already reeling from a rise in house break-ins and chain snatchings, now fake police officers have also started operating actively. These imposters have begun robbing citizens by scaring them during the Diwali season. On October 16, a couple was tricked by such fake cops who, under the pretext of increasing thefts in the city, pretended to check a ring's size and made off with a gold ring weighing around half a tola (approximately 5 grams).
Madhukar Kolekar, a resident of Nakshatrawadi, was out shopping with his wife Shobha at around 3.30 pm on October 16. After finishing their shopping, while returning home, they were stopped in front of Matoshri Hospital on Paithan Road by a motorcyclist. He showed an ID claiming to be a police officer and began questioning them. At that moment, another person, an accomplice pretending to be an ordinary citizen, arrived at the spot.
The fake officer started interrogating this citizen and asked him to show his gold ornaments, pretending it was part of an investigation. When Kolekar asked the reason for this, the imposter said there had been a rise in thefts and robberies in the city, and that routine checks were being conducted. Using the excuse of checking the size of a ring, he took the gold ring from Kolekar's wife's hand. While Kolekar was distracted in conversation, the imposter fled with the ring. As soon as he ran, his accomplices, who were pretending to be bystanders, also fled the scene at high speed.
Upon receiving information about the incident, Satara Police Inspector Krishna Shinde rushed to the spot. A case has since been registered in connection with the incident.