A woman, who conned a 78-year-old lady and took away her gold chain weighing two-and-a-half sovereigns at Kaloor on February 16 last, was arrested by the Kochi City police on Wednesday.
The accused was identified as Beena Kumari, 50, of Kalathurr in Kottayam.
According to the police, Beena Kumari approached the victim, Elsi Xavier, a resident of Kaloor, while the latter was returning home after offering prayers at the Kaloor church. She approached the woman saying that she looked like her mother and then gifted her a duplicate gold chain.
She then asked the victim to hand over her smaller gold chain so as not to be blamed by her family members for losing her chain. By the time the victim realised the fraud, the accused had fled.
The victim lodged a complaint with the Ernakulam North police, but Beena Kumari could not be traced. However, the police caught her husband Sunoj when he tried to sell the gold chain at a jewellery showroom in the city. The woman, along with her children, was hiding at different places by renting out houses.
The police, meanwhile, obtained the visuals of her approaching the victim from the CCTV footage of the Kaloor church and an alert message, along with her picture, was posted in the social media seeking help in locating her.
“What gave us the breakthrough was managing to get her new mobile number. We, with the help of the cyber police, tracked and arrested her. During the investigation, it was revealed that she had tricked various other persons in a similar manner,” the police said.
