Faced with good-mannered persuasion from an elderly woman,a California-based Indian housewife let her guard down, and paid for it.
NRI woman drugged in Asiad state bus by an elderly lady, robbed of her valuables
Darsha Shah, 48, knew that is was unsafe to accept any edible from a stranger during transit.
But faced with good-mannered persuasion from an elderly woman, the California-based Indian housewife let her guard down, and paid for it.
Her courtesy cost her a cellphone, $800, Rs10,000 in cash and the gold jewellery she was wearing. Police said that the valuables looted were worth well over Rs50,000.
Shah said that the incident happened on Sunday night, when she was returning to the city from her uncle’s home in Pune by an Asiad state transport bus.
She boarded the bus from the central bus terminus in Pune. “Next to me, there was an elderly lady of about 60. She was accompanied by another woman of her age and a young man in his 20s. The two were sitting in the row behind us,” Shah told DNA.
The bus halted at a food mart in Lonavala. The two women and the man got down for snacks, but Shah preferred to stay in the bus.
“The lady sitting next to me returned with a cup of coffee for me. Initially, I declined as I hardly knew her, but she insisted, saying that the coffee in the food mart was very good.
Out of courtesy, I took the cup from her, poured half of the coffee in her cup and drank the rest.” Her narrative ended abruptly, as she had no clue as to what happened thereafter.
Returning to consciousness, she found herself in Sion hospital; her handbag containing the valuables and her passport gone.
Her relatives, who had come to receive her at the bus stop, told her that she had been unconscious when the bus reached Dadar, and they had rushed her to the hospital.
Fortunately for Shah, she got her passport back. A Pune-based businessman, who gave a lift to two elderly women and a young man up to Shivaji Nagar, found it lying on the back seat of his car.
“There were other important documents in the bag, but I am thankful that I at least got my passport back”, said Shah.
DCP Sunil Ramanand said, “We are preparing sketches of the trio.”
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