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An elderly widow was duped of more than Rs 11 lakh by a paying guest who had managed to win the victim’s trust with her caring approach.
Rumjhum Mukherjee had taken the money from Rekha Banerjee, 75, on the pretext of helping her buy her an apartment. She has been absconding for a week.
Rekha lodged a complaint with Lake police station on Thursday. “Rekha initially suppressed the incident from her two daughters, married and settled in Behala and Ranchi. When the daughters kept asking her about Rumjhum, she gave in,” said Damayanti Sen, the joint commissioner of police (crime).
Rekha had rented out a room in her Southend Park apartment to Rumjhum, who had claimed to be working with a news channel, around six months ago.
Rumjhum took little time in impressing Rekha. “Within a short span, Rumjhum became close to Rekha, taking care of the elderly woman,” an officer of Lake police station said.
“I started treating her like my daughter and she took a lot of care of me. She would cook for me, wash my clothes and nurse me whenever I fell ill,” Rekha told police.
Rumjhum convinced an unsuspecting Rekha that her apartment was too large for a single occupant and that it would be more convenient for her to buy a small flat. “I agreed to sell the apartment and shift to a smaller flat,” Rekha said in her complaint.
The paying guest took cash and jewellery worth around Rs 11 lakh from Rekha and disappeared the next day.
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