Ahmedabad:
Taking the law into one's own hand is a criminal offence, but in this case, the public did it somewhat differently. In fact, it was something that could teach the police department a trick or two on how to lay a trap to nab a culprit.
In this case, however, the public patiently waited for two years before they caught hold of a conman and gave him a sound thrashing before they had him incarcerated at the Satellite police station, on Thursday evening.
At first the cops were surprised when they were handed over the culprit by a group of people, who claimed that the man they nabbed had duped them on many occasions by using a bizarre modus operandi.
"Some two years ago, this man (the accused) duped one Kishan Parmar, who used to work in a city-based foreign currency exchange company. The culprit called up Parmar and claimed that he was 'Doctor SK Jain' at Sterling Hospital, and needed 1,000 US dollars. Parmar followed the caller's instructions and reached the gate of the hospital where he received a call from the man," said one of the members of the group at the police station.
He added, "The accused then told Parmar to hand over the dollars to a person he would meet at the hospital gate and get the value of the dollars in rupees at the hospital's reception. Kishan acted accordingly. After doling out 600 dollars, he approached the receptionist to get his money - where he realised that he had been duped."
How the trap was set
The news of the manner in which Kishan was taken for a ride spread in the currency exchange fraternity like wildfire. Everyone became alert and passed on the information to their fellow currency workers.
Some six months back, the accused again called up an official and said that he was a doctor and needed foreign currency. Soon the group laid a trap to catch him red-handed. But their plan didn't work out. A few days back, he again called an official of Mira Exchange and asked for 200 Pounds. A Mira Exchange official informed the group and again a trap was set.
"The man called me and told me to meet him at Shrey Hospital in Navrangpura for the money. However, he changed his plan and asked me to come to Parekh Hospital in Shyamal area. My group including the owner of the company was ready for him this time. They gathered at the spot and trapped him when he showed up," said a group member.
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