Jeweller conned of 24 sovereigns over phone

Prakash, who owns Ambal Jewellery in Indira Gandhi Road in Pallavaram, received a phone call from a person who introduced himself as Dr Govindaraj from Sankara Eye hospital in Pallavaram. The man asked him for four gold chains immediately, claiming that it was for a farewell party in the hospital.

He urged Prakash to deliver the chains at the hospital, as he was at an urgent meeting and would be unable to visit the shop to take delivery. Following this, Prakash asked his employee Venkatesan (28) to deliver the chains and collect the cash. When he reached the hospital, Venkatesan called Dr Govindaraj, who said he was still in the meeting and added that his assistant Srinivasan would collect them. A man then collected the chains from Venkatesan and asked to wait at the reception.

When he failed to return, Venkatesan called Govindaraj’s number, which, however, was switched off. He then inquired at the reception to find that there was no doctor at the hospital named Govindaraj.

Prakash realised that he has been conned and filed a complaint at Shankar Nagar police station. Efforts are on to identify the duo by browsing the CCTV footage recorded in the hospital and trace them using mobile phone signals.

This is the second incident with similar modus operandi reported in Kancheepuram district in the last one month.

On May 7, unidentified men conned three gold chains worth Rs 2 lakh from a man who is running a jewellery shop in Kancheepuram claiming to representatives of a doctor. The case investigated by Siva Kanchi police is yet to be cracked.