The duo asked Ms Shetty to remove her jewellery as she would otherwise be mistaken for a rich woman and would not be given the expensive freebies.

Mumbai: Even as the Thane (rural) police continues to issue advisories asking the public not to interact with strangers, yet another elderly woman fell prey to the Bol Bachchan (glib talkers) gang in Bhayandar Sunday afternoon.

According to the police, the matter was reported from the P.K. Road area when the woman, identified as Prema Shetty (58), was on her way to a nearby temple. Two men claiming to be the employees of a rich businessman approached Ms Shetty, informing her about free distribution of sarees, sweets and cash to some poor people nearby.

The duo asked Ms Shetty to remove her jewellery as she would otherwise be mistaken for a rich woman and would not be given the expensive freebies. Ms Shetty complied only to end up being robbed of her gold ornaments worth over Rs 85,000.

She then registered a complaint with the Navghar police station. “A case under section 420 of the Indian Penal Codes (IPC) has been registered against the unidentified miscreants.” said an investigating officer, who also appealed to residents, especially women and senior citizens, to avoid getting into conversations with strangers. It is suspected that the gang members are expert hypnotists.