MUMBAI: Two "habitual criminals" who feigned familiarity with strangers to cheat them were arrested near Crawford Market on Sunday by the crime branch of the city police.
The duo-Naresh Vijaykumar Jaiswal (40) and Sanjay Dattaram Mangde (46)- scoured marketplaces for a soft target and would call out to him by common names like 'Raju' or 'Pappu'; if he was a Gujarati it would typically be 'Ketanbhai' or 'Mehta' or 'Shah', and approach him.
While one kept the target busy in exchanging pleasantries, the other would hynotize him and relieve the target of his wallet or gold chain or other valuables and flee, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Umap Shahji. "By the time the victim realised what happened, the other fraudster too would slip away into the crowd, by aplogisingfor the "mistaken identity".
The two committed around 143 such offences over the last two decades in the city.
The police said that though they had been arrested earlier, they would jump bail and skip court hearings.
Inspector Vinayak Meher of the crime branch said that the two had been declared 'proclaimed offenders'.
A police team on Sunday laid a trap on getting information that two were planning to target some tourists near Crawford Market.
The duo-Naresh Vijaykumar Jaiswal (40) and Sanjay Dattaram Mangde (46)- scoured marketplaces for a soft target and would call out to him by common names like 'Raju' or 'Pappu'; if he was a Gujarati it would typically be 'Ketanbhai' or 'Mehta' or 'Shah', and approach him.
While one kept the target busy in exchanging pleasantries, the other would hynotize him and relieve the target of his wallet or gold chain or other valuables and flee, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Umap Shahji. "By the time the victim realised what happened, the other fraudster too would slip away into the crowd, by aplogisingfor the "mistaken identity".
The two committed around 143 such offences over the last two decades in the city.
The police said that though they had been arrested earlier, they would jump bail and skip court hearings.
Inspector Vinayak Meher of the crime branch said that the two had been declared 'proclaimed offenders'.
A police team on Sunday laid a trap on getting information that two were planning to target some tourists near Crawford Market.
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