Rourkela: A 49-year-old woman was robbed off her jewellery by two bike-borne men, one of whom posed as a soothsayer and convinced her to hand over her valuables, worth Rs 1.8 lakh, police said on Wednesday. The incident took place when the woman was heading towards a temple on Bisra Dahar Road on the occasion of Makar Sankranti on Tuesday. No arrests have been made so far.
“We have registered a case and are investigating the matter,” Niranjan Sethi, inspector in-charge of Uditnagar police station, said, adding, “Our efforts are underway to apprehend the culprits.”
According to the police, the victim, identified as Main Road resident Kiran Agarwal, was heading to the temple when the two men on a motorcycle stopped her and one claimed to be a soothsayer. When she asked him about her future, the impostor predicted dire consequences for her and her son. Alarmed by the prediction, Agarwal fell for the fraudster’s scheme when he convinced her to hand over her gold necklace and earrings, claiming he would purify them with holy water from the Ganga river. He then instructed her to walk 51 steps forward without looking back. Upon turning around after completing the steps, both men had disappeared with her jewellery.
The Uditnagar police have obtained CCTV footage showing the two suspects and have circulated their images to all police stations within and outside Rourkela to nab them.