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Udupi, Oct 8: A woman from Kodavoor near here was fleeced by two men, one of them in police garb. The incident occurred on the evening of Thursday October 6. She lost gold ornaments worth Rs 1.5 lac in the process.

The woman in question, Yashoda Jogi, had visited Yermal to pay obeisance at a temple there. On her return journey, she alighted from the bus at the service bus stand and was walking towards the city bus stand, when she was accosted by a person in police uniform riding a motor bike. Another person joined him immediately thereafter.

The man introduced himself as a sub-inspector of police, and claimed that a person had been murdered at the spot the previous day for gold ornaments. He instructed her in a dominating voice to remove the gold ornaments as it would entice the thieves. The other man too said that his ornaments were saved the previous day, as he had paid heed to the advice of the sub-inspector and placed his valuables in a bag. When the woman continued to walk, the so-called sub-inspector threatened to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 on her.

With no other option left, the woman put her ornaments in her handbag. The man wanted to check her bag and got her signature in a small book. Once the woman reached the city bus stand and boarded a home-bound bus, she opened her handbag. She found that her ornaments made of seven sovereigns of gold, had gone missing mysteriously.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, superintendent of police, Dr Y S Ravikumar said that Chandravathi from Hayagreevanagar near Manipal has lost 15 sovereigns of gold ornaments to the similar trick played by the said gang at 11 am on Friday. He has asked people to take care not to fall prey to the designs of this gang, and to alert nearby police station in case of suspicion.