73-year-old woman takes lift offer, loses Rs 1.2 lakh gold bangle

LUDHIANA: A gang of two women and a man, who drive around in a car and loot elderly citizens of gold jewellery after offering them a lift, has struck again and stolen gold bangles worth Rs 1.2 lakh this time.


Vikas Nagar resident Nirmal Mahajan (73) became the latest victim of the gang on Sunday morning, when she was offered a lift by the gang while waiting for a bus to the Radha Saomi Satsang centre in Daad village.

In her complaint, Mahajan alleged that she was standing at the crossing of Punjab Mata Nagar on Pakhowal Road and waiting for a bus, when the accused stopped in a white-coloured car near her and offered to drive her to the congregation. They told her that they were also going to the centre too. While the man was driving the car, the two women were seated in the back.

The accused women made Mahajan sit between them. Mahajan alleged that when they reached B7 Chowk on Pakhowal Road, one of the women said she was feeling nauseous and, once the car stopped, she got out. As Mahajan got out of the car too to help her, the woman hurriedly sat back in the car and the accused drove off. Mahajan said she did not suspect anything at the time and took a bus to the satsang centre.

Mahajan realised her gold bangles, weighing 30 grams and costing around Rs 1.2 lakh, were missing when she was returning home. She informed her family about the theft when she reached home, who then informed the police.

Investigating officer Gurmail Singh of Dugri police station said a case had been registered against unidentified accused under sections 379 (theft) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code .

A police official said they were checking footage of CCTV cameras near the crime scene to identify the accused. However, they were yet to come across any such crime.

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2nd strike in 1 month

Oct 2 | Rajpura Road resident Veeran Malhotra, 73, lost her gold bangle to the car gang a few metres from Kitchlu Nagar police post. The accused after robbing woman, pushed her out of the car and escaped.

July 24 | Kanchan Sharma, 45, of Chandigarh was robbed by woman car gang of her gold chain near Kohara, when the woman had come to meet relatives

June 7 | The gang robbed an elderly woman, Jaswant Kaur of Urban Estate, of gold bangles after offering her a lift in their car

May 26 | The gang robbed Usha Kakkar, 38, of Tagore Nagar of her ‘mangal sutra’ and a 15gm gold bangle on Humbran Road after offering a lift in their car

Feb 8 | The gang targeted Karamjeet Kaur, 70, and escaped with her gold bangle of 50 grams outsider her house in Phase II of Urban Estate, Dugri

July 9, 2018 | Gang robbed 85-year-old Kamala Malhana of Saheed Udham Singh Nagar, of her two gold bangles near Tagore Nagar on July 9