The woman and her son were arrested and produced before the court (Representational)
A 45-year-old woman and her son were arrested for allegedly cheating women by engaging with them in conversations and stealing their jewellery, police said on Monday.
The accused, Shanti Devi, and her 20-year-old son, Praveen, were arrested following raids at their house in west Delhi's Raghu Birnagar, they said.
The mother and the son with their associate, who was on the run, used to steal jewellery from women after engaging them into a conversation, police said.
The matter came to light after a woman who was targeted by the mother and son approached the police in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar area in her complaint on April 9.
The woman alleged that she was at a hospital with her sister-in-law for some check-up, when the accused woman entered into a conversation with her and took away her ear rings, pendant set and a finger ring, according to police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said, "Based on the complaint, we registered a case under section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of Indian Penal Code and initiated an investigation."
During the probe, CCTV footage of nearby areas was checked. After the identity of the suspects was known, raids were conducted at Raghu Birnagar from where they were arrested, he said.
The accused woman told police that she committed the offence with her son and one of her associates. They sold the victim's jewellery to some unknown people, the DCP said.
The woman and her son were arrested and produced before the court wherein she was remanded to judicial custody and her son was taken to one-day police custody remand to recover the cheated jewellery and to arrest the co-accused, the officer
The accused have also disclosed about their involvement in another case of cheating registered at Ambedkar Nagar police station, police said, adding further investigation is underway.