A woman was allegedly robbed of gold ornaments worth around ₹5 lakh by a group of criminals posing as police officers in the busy College Halt area of Alipurduar town on Friday afternoon.
According to police sources, the victim, Putul Sarkar, a resident of Suryanagar, had visited a bank around 11am. After completing her work, she came out onto the main road and was standing on the footpath when two men arrived on a motorcycle and introduced themselves as police personnel.
The duo, speaking in Hindi, reportedly advised Sarkar to keep her gold ornaments inside her bag for safety. As she could not understand them properly, a third man approached and explained the same in Bengali.
To convince her, the man allegedly removed his own ornaments and placed them inside his bag, showing her how to secure valuables while travelling.
Trusting the men, Sarkar removed her gold bangles and chain and attempted to put them into her bag. However, the accused allegedly snatched the ornaments and fled the spot within seconds.
The woman immediately raised an alarm, drawing local residents to the scene. Police later arrived and launched an investigation into the incident.
Sarkar claimed that the stolen jewellery was worth nearly ₹5 lakh.
“She has filed a complaint at the Alipurduar police station, and we have initiated a probe. A search operation is underway to trace and arrest the accused,” a police officer said.
