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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Trickster in police net

Staff Reporter

Posed as health worker

Duped senior citizens, stole jewellery
Suspect confesses to some of the crimes

Thiruvananthapuram: The district police have warned women and elderly persons from falling prey to tricksters who often posed as government health workers or agents of nationalised banks.

The warning comes in the wake of the arrest of a 29-year-old man on the charge of cheating several persons, most of them women and senior citizens, in the district. Circle Inspector, Nedumangadu, K. Muhammad Shafi, identified the suspect as Manoj, 29. He is a resident of Vayalil Veedu, Arappura Lane, Kannanmoola.

In the past three months, the rural police had received at least 10 complaints of cheating from senior citizens in Nedumangadu and Attingal police sub divisions.

On July 20, 2008, a young man approached 88-year-old Krishna Pillai, a resident of Ayiroorpara, and introduced himself as a health worker. He said he was surveying the health status of elderly persons and wanted to medically examine Pillai and his wife Thankamma. The man persuaded the couple to remove their ornaments prior to the “check-up.” According to Pillai, the man held a vibrating device (which police said was a cellphone on vibrating mode) near his ear. He made them consume a capsule (which police said was a strong sedative given to mentally ill patients) and left the spot with their gold ornaments.

On July 1, 2008, Subramma, an elderly woman living alone at her house in Kollamkavu, had a similar experience from a “government health worker.” She also reported the loss of her gold ornaments.

On July 7, 2008, Thankamma, 80, of Kushangode and on June 24, 2008, Sarasamma, 67, of Vattappara reported similar experiences from a “young health worker.” They also reported the loss of gold ornaments. One Meeran Pillai and his wife Arifa of Anadu were cheated this month.

The police prepared a sketch of the suspect on the basis of the description given by his victims and published it in some newspapers.

Later, the police found out that a similar looking man was using a new method of operation to cheat senior citizens. One Omana, 67, of Anadu complained that a young man came to her house and introduced himself as the employee of a nationalised bank.

He said she received a payment of Rs.75,000 from her relatives abroad. He showed her a cheque for the amount and said she had to pay the bank a processing charge of Rs 1,500 for encashing it. She complied and later found that she had been cheated.

The police said that a vigilant neighbourhood group in Irunjayam helped them arrest the suspect on Saturday morning. The suspect had approached an elderly woman in the locality posing as a health worker. She demanded that he show his identity card. The suspicious woman alerted the members of the neighbourhood watch who detained Manoj.

The CI said Manoj, a tailor, had confessed to some of the crimes. He said he had two wives and had taken to crime to fend for both of them. Manoj was also trying to escape a debt a trap. The suspect was produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Court, and Nedumangadu on the charge of cheating, theft and using poisonous substances to sedate people against their will. The court remanded him in judicial custody for a period of 14 days.

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