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Mumbai:  A 32-year-old woman who posed as a top-notch cop and ingratiated herself with a Malad-based family to rob them, had such a convincing mien that she could easily put even her authentic male counterparts out of business, cops said.

Yesterday, the Dindoshi police arrested Pooja Jain aka Thakkar for impersonating a Crime Branch official and stealing gold and cash worth

Rs. 10.62 lakh from the Aggarwals who live in Sahyadri Towers, Upper Govind Nagar, Malad East.

Jain, introduced to the Aggarwals by a family member, moved in with them a month ago, after touting herself as a senior cop with clout who could help them resolve a certain legal dispute that they were caught up in.

Soon, Jain won the family’s trust, but only to clean out their cash and gold reserves surreptitiously. However, it did not take long for the Aggarwals to realise that she was a thief in the garb of a cop. Last Tuesday, her con was uncovered.

Smooth criminal

"Jain, originally a resident of Dindoshi, moved in with the Aggarwals after posturing as a Crime Branch officer.

She said she would help them in their legal disputes. However, a month after Jain moved in with the family, one of the family members, Priya Aggarwal (48) realised that a lot of her cash and jewellery were missing. She immediately informed the other family members in the presence of the accused," said a police official.

The family lodged a complaint with the Dindoshi police. When cops began inquiries, Jain tried to mislead them by blaming the family’s servant. But when the officials raised a finger of suspicion at Jain, she attempted to play her fake cop card. "In her interactions, she spoke fluent Marathi and maintained the mannerisms of a police officer. When she came to meet me, she even tried to show off her fluent English," said senior PI Vinayak Kakade of Dindoshi police station.

Real faker

According to police sources, during interrogations, Jain maintained a tough exterior. She pretended to be calling Pune Police Commissioner Meera Borvankar as well as former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal to show her pull.

In fact, when cops demanded her identity proof, she refused to show it to them, dismissing the investigating officers as too low in rank to be dealing with her.

But eventually, thorough interrogations broke her and she revealed how she duped the Aggarwals. She was a hard nut to crack, cops admitted.

On Wednesday, she was booked under Sections 170 (impersonating a public servant) and 380 (theft in dwelling house), and was remanded to two days in police custody to facilitate further investigations. Cops have recovered Rs. 45,000 in cash and 60 grams of gold jewellery so far.

The Aggarwal family did not want to talk about the matter. However, they shared their state of disbelief regarding the entire incident and said that they had trusted Jain immensely and were stunned at the con she pulled.