Sambalpur: Gold Jewelry Stolen from Old Women, Scared Her on the Pretext of ‘God’s Anger’

• He said the husband is dead, the son will also die
• Such incidents have already occurred in the city
• Still people are not aware

Sambalpur: In an innovative way, two robbers robbed an elderly woman of her gold necklace, gold earring, silver earring, purse, and 800 rupees. They claimed it was due to the goddess’s anger. “Your husband is dead. If you do not listen to me, your son will also die because the goddess is angry with you. I will perform a ritual to appease her,” they told the victim (old lady).

This incident happened on a street near a mall in the town. Mamata Mitra (62) from Nuapada was robbed while coming to Golbazar.

According to the complaint, Mamata was going to Golbazar to buy household goods at 6:40 pm. A man speaking in Hindi stopped her on the street and asked about an ear and nose doctor’s location. When Mamata said she didn’t know, he stopped her again after some distance and claimed it was the goddess’s fault that her husband died. He said if she didn’t listen to him, her son would also die. So he said he would perform a remedy.

He then called another man who was passing by and told him the same thing. The man agreed with the remedy. This convinced Mamata to bring some offerings for the ritual. They bought some karpoor for 5 rupees. The first man asked Mamata to hold the second man’s bag. The second man walked 11 steps ahead, chanting the goddess’s name, and then returned. Mamata gave his bag back. Later, they took all her gold jewelry, purse, and mobile, and asked her to walk 51 steps. When she looked back after 51 steps, the two men were gone with her belongings. She then raised an alarm about being robbed. After filing a written complaint at the police station, a case has been registered, and the police are investigating.

• Such incidents have occurred before, but people are still unaware

Similar incidents have already happened in different parts of the state. Even in Sambalpur city, 73-year-old Shantilata Bagh was a victim of such fraud on February 4, with 35 grams of gold and 2,500 rupees robbed from her. The man who robbed the woman in this case was also speaking in Hindi. Wherever such robberies have occurred in Odisha, only women have been victims, presumably by the same person or a particular group from outside the state. However, the police have not been able to identify the addresses of these thieves coming from outside. Despite such incidents happening frequently, people are still not aware of this.