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Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Oct 06, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
Women, beware of jewellery polishers, write V.S. Palaniappan and M. Soundariya Preetha A group of persons from North India colluding with local people (in stray cases) is indulging in “easy to commit and hard to detect” offences wherein they dupe housewives of their gold jewellery by offering to get the valuables polished instantly at a low charge. There are also instances of criminals cheating housewives by exploiting their religious sentiments and superstitious beliefs by offering to perform poojas for driving away evil influences and to bring prosperity and peace. In the last two years, the City witnessed five such cases of jewellery being robbed from women under the pretext of getting the valuables polished. Of these cases, two ended in investigation while the rest are under investigation with the police on the hunt for the criminals. In January 2006, a woman in Sai Baba Colony was cheated of five-and-a-half sovereigns of jewellery. In March 2005, another woman at Chinniampalayam was cheated of 12 sovereigns of gold jewellery. In May 2007, a woman in Gandhipuram was cheated of less than half-a-sovereign jewellery, whereas in the two latest incidents reported in July and September, the gangs had decamped with close to 30 sovereigns of jewellery. In one of the incidents, the gang had three members. In another case, the accused had been identified as those from Bihar and Gujarat. According to police, the gangsters were in the habit of approaching housewives when they were alone at home in remote residential areas. They would target only posh, isolated houses. After a convincing conversation on polishing jewels instantly for a low charge, the gangs would offer to polish just one small jewel in front of the owner. On showing the glittering jewel (sample piece) after the polish, the gangs used to persuade the victim to part with all the jewellery for polishing. When the victim brought all the jewels, they would ask for a vessel or a cooker for doing the polishing. The victim would be asked to keep the vessel on a stove for ten minutes. The gangs would pretend to put the jewels into the vessel, but would place only imitation jewellery inside. They would manage to deceive the victim and conceal the gold jewels in their bag. After the gang members left, the house wives would do as they had been instructed, open the vessel, and only then realise that they had been cheated. If they had been cheated of jewellery of low value, the victims usually refrained from giving a police complaint. “Polishing jewellery is an art,” says B. Sabarinath secretary of the Coimbatore Jewellers’ Association. It needs some equipment that cannot be taken from door-to-door. Hence, the public should be careful when someone comes home and offers to polish jewellery. Genuine goldsmiths normally do not go to houses to polish jewellery. Further, the time taken to polish a jewel piece varies from half an hour to even two hours. It depends on the quantity and type of jewellery. Mr. Sabarinath cautions that in case the right materials are not used for polishing, then it could affect the gold and spoil the jewellery. He advises that the public should not hand over their jewellery to unknown people who come home and offer to polish the gold pieces. City Police Commissioner, C.K. Gandhirajan said that the police would be able to prevent such offences only if women exercised extra caution and care. Public co-operation was of paramount importance. Police officers at every station level have been asked to conduct a drive to sensitise women. Women should desist from entertaining strangers, especially self-styled priests, poojaris and those posing as jewel polishers.
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