The Dadar police has arrested a woman posing as a customs officer for duping more than 25 people of Rs 2 crore by promising them that she would provide gold coins for cheap. The police received more than 10 complaints against her.
According to police officials accused Madhavi Kishor Tembhe (40) is a BSc graduate. She was working with renowned company, but quit 12 years ago. For the past few years she could not get employed. Her father works at Mantaralaya.
The police said, “Tembhe used to pretend to be a customs official. She had created a fake card to target women who were interested in jewellery. She put up an elegant and rich façade so her victims would not get wind of her plans and trust her. Once she became friends with a woman, she would offer them gold coins within Rs 15-18,000 if they ordered them in bulk. Tembhe would tell them that being a customs officer she had seized some gold biscuits and coins which she would give them at a low price.”
She would then take her victim to a jewellery shop to verify the items and after their authenticity was confirmed, she would tell the victim that she needed to complete some formalities and that they would receive the coins within the next two days. However, she would then flee with the money and ignore the person.
Investigation officer of Dadar police station Dipali Kulkarni said, “Tembhe had more than 25 cases registered against her in police station of Thane, Mumbai and Jammu and Kashmir. We received two complaints from women who have businesses and are well-educated. They wanted to invest their money in gold and were cheated by Tembhe. We laid a trap for Tembhe and arrested her from Kurla area. She is in police custody till February 25. We are quizzing her to find out details about other crimes and recover money.”
Ms Kulkarni added that Tembhe was very ambitious and wanted earn money to fulfil her extravagant lifestyle.
