KOCHI: A robbery happened in Kochi by posing as Income tax officials. The incident took place at the house of Sanjay, a goldsmith from Aluva, today afternoon. The four-member gang tied up Sanjay and his wife and looted 37.5 sovereigns of gold and Rs 1,80,000.

After convincing Sanjay's family by showing fake ID cards on their mobile phones, the group made all the family members sit in one place. They then searched the entire house. The team seized the money and gold and made Sanjay sign several papers. The gang then left the place with Sanjay's bank pass book and PAN card.

They also seized a hard disk of CCTV footage after realizing that their arrival and robbery had been captured on CCTV. Sanjay said that they had behaved in believable manner like officials and therefore there was no suspicion. But when the group left the house and he called on the phone provided by them, a headload worker in Thrissur picked up the phone. With this, he realized that it was a scam. Later, Sanjay informed the police.

Police have started an investigation. Police said they were focusing on footage from nearby houses and shops as there were no CCTV footage available in Sanjay's house.