4 pose as cops, steal Rs 5.5L from foreigner in Gurgaon for treatment

Gurgaon: A 62-year-old woman from Turkmenistan — who was in the city to receive medical treatment at a hospital — was robbed of cash worth approximately Rs 5.5 lakh by four men posing as police officers at HUDA Market in Sector 52 on Saturday night.

"Everything happened so quickly, she couldn't understand what was going on and the language barrier made it worse," translator Shoaib Khan through whom a complaint was filed at Sector 53 police station told TOI.Alimova from Lebap Velayat city in Turkmenistan, who stays at a guest house in Sector 52 along with her daughter Allakova, had arrived in the city on June 11 for treatment of a knee and rib condition at Artemis Hospital.

Around 8.30pm on Saturday, the two were on an evening walk near the market when a small white car stopped in front of them. One person among the four accused stepped out of the car and introduced themselves as police officers.According to the complaint, the men claimed they were conducting routine checks and demanded to inspect their belongings searching for contraband articles. While engaging the mother and daughter in conversation, the suspects took $3,800 and 5,000 Turkmenistan manat from her purse — amounting to roughly Rs 5.5 lakh in Indian currency.

The accused fled the scene soon after. A case has been registered under sections 3(5) (common intention), 303 (theft) and 318 (4) (cheating) of BNS. Police visited the spot and scanned nearby CCTV footage in an effort to identify the suspects. "We have been advising the foreign patients to be safe from such fraudsters," a police officer said, adding, "We recorded several cases where foreigners — especially women — were targeted by similar gangs pretending to be law enforcement officers," a police officer said.