Fake policeman loots cop's wife

Mumbai: Despite several awareness posters warning people to beware of bogus cops pasted across the city, a policeman's wife became the latest victim of a fake cop. Manisha Padmakar (37), was walking with a relative on Waterfield Road, Khar (W), when a man posing as a policeman conned her of jewellery worth Rs 2.7 lakh on Tuesday night.

Manisha, whose husband Jagdish Padmakar is a police constable attached with the protection branch of Mumbai police, was proceeding towards a private hospital in Khar when the incident occurred.

According to the police, at 10.30 pm Manisha and her relative witnessed two well-dressed men having a conversation on the road. One of the men then began removing his gold ornaments, placed it in a handkerchief, and handed it over to the other man. The man who accepted the ornaments then approached Manisha and told her that he is a police inspector from Khar police station, and that the road ahead is dark, isolated and notorious for robberies. He instructed her to take out her jewellery and keep it in a safe place. Having just witnessed the other man surrendering his valuables, she put all her ornaments in a handkerchief, and the fake cop offered his help to knot the hanky firmly.

Manisha obliged, and the fake cop scampered to a parked bike waiting nearby, which was being driven by the same man who had submitted his gold to the police officer minutes ago, and fled with her ornaments.

Shocked by the incident, an inconsolable Manisha rang her husband, and they both proceeded to Khar police station. A police officer from Khar police station said, "We have registered a case against two unidentified men under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. The complainant was conned of gold worth Rs 2.7 lakh."