‘BMC surveyors’ trick women, clean out Bhandup house

Never open the door to strangers without checking their identification. The Pakeres from Bhandup learned this the hard way.

On Tuesday afternoon, four men posing as civic surveyors came to the Pakeres’ first-floor room at Masurkar chawl in Tembi Pada. They gagged Manisha Pakere, 35, locked her in the bathroom and fled with valuables worth Rs1.33 lakh. 

The Pakeres residence is located behind the Tembi Pada police chowki.

“On Tuesday, at 3pm, I was alone at home. My elder daughter, Monali, 15, was at tuition class, while my younger one, Sejal, was at my brother-in-law Vasudev Pakere’s house, which is on the ground floor of the same building,” said Manisha.

“Four men rang the doorbell and claimed to be BMC surveyors. They said they wanted to conduct a survey of the house and before I could say anything, one of them gagged my mouth with his hand and the other three pushed me inside.”

They allegedly threatened her with a hacksaw blade and pushed her inside the bathroom. “They slashed a finger on my left hand and snatched my gold chain and earrings. I fell unconscious in the bathroom,” she told the police.

Vasudev Pakere said, “We found out about the incident when Sejal went home at 3.30pm. When her mother did not open the door despite her ringing the doorbell several times, she came to our house. I called on my sister-in-law’s mobile phone, but got no answer. So, we broke open the door and found the place ransacked and my sister-in-law unconscious in the bathroom.” An initial probe said the men were known to the family.