Govt staff, elderly women among four conned in city

Shankar (53) of Chromepet, who works as an office assistant at Container Freight Station, boarded an MTC bus to report to work on Monday. A man approached Shankar in the bus and introduced himself as a policeman checking for smuggling of drugs.

He made Shankar get down at Kasi theatre bus stop on the pretext of taking him to a senior police officer and asked him to remove his gold rings in order to look innocent in front of the senior officials.

Later, he offered to fold the rings in a kerchief and stuffed it into his shirt pocket. Making Shankar wait at the bus stop, the man vanished from the spot. Shankar who on suspicion checked the kerchief and found the rings weighing about 1.5 sovereigns missing. Based on his complaint, MGR Nagar police have registered a case and have launched a hunt for the suspect with the help of CCTV footage.

Similarly, Valasaravakkam police have launched a hunt for an autorickshaw-borne duo who robbed a construction labourer of his gold chain. The victim Ramu of Kovilambakkam was walking by in Valasaravakkam when an autorickshaw pulled next to him and the man in the passenger seat wearing a mask asked him to get in for work at a house in the neighbourhood. However, the autorickshaw reached a secluded place where the duo robbed Ramu and fled the spot.

Meanwhile, two elderly women lost their gold chains in the MTC bus and Tondiarpet police have launched a hunt for the suspects. M Kamatchiammal (70) of Choolai found her 5 sovereigns missing while getting down from an MTC bus at Tondiarpet, while Alamelu (75) of New Washermenpet found her 1.5 sovereigns missing when she got down at Tondiarpet to go to hospital.