ImpostOrs posing as cops are turning out to be a major problem for Pune police. In 24 hours,four different incidents were reported in the city,where men posing as police duped elderly women and made away with their ornaments. There have been eleven such incidents in the jurisdiction of city police in 2010. Two men stopped a 69-year-old Anuradha Ramesh Pundalik near Aranyeshwar School in Sahkarnagar at around 11.45 am on Friday. Posing as cops,they told the old woman a murder has taken place in a nearby area. As the old woman panicked,the two men asked her to remove her gold chain and wrap it in a handkerchief. The men tricked the woman and stole her gold chain and escaped from the spot. Pundalik,a resident of Ashok society in Sahakarnagar has lodged a complaint at Dattawadi police station. In another case,two men posing as police duped Malti Prabhakar Chavan,a resident of Avdut Arcade of Wadgaon Burdruk,and stole her gold chain on Friday. Chavan was walking home,when the duo approached her as cops. They asked the woman to remove her gold chain saying that it would create problems for her as some crime has taken place nearby. The duo,however,stole her chain and escaped. She has lodged a complaint at Haveli police station. In a separate incident,two men on a motorcycle approached a 50-year-old Vrushali Vasant Gokhale while she was walking towards Sadashiv Peth at around 12.40 pm on Thursday. The men told her they were cops. The men told her that a woman named Jyoti had been murdered. The two men asked Gokhale to take off her jewellery and keep it in a bag. But they stole the jewellery and escaped. At the same place,after some time,two men stole jewellery from a 58-year-old Alka Arun Relekar. Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime),Anant Rokde said people should ask for identity cards if anyone approaches them as a cop.
