BENGALURU: It was a 23-year-old final-year mechanical engineering student Manjunath Devareddy who was the hero on Sunday evening when a habitual chain-snatcher went on a stabbing spree from Rangoli Art Centre on MG Road Boulevard till Church Street, injuring five — including the 35-year-old woman, whose chain he had snatched — and Manjunath himself.
Manjunath, a native of Ballari, grappled with the dagger-wielding chain-snatcher Dastagir, to wrest the weapon from his hand to allow a District Armed Reserve constable Nagesh M — armed with a pistol — to pin him down and bring the horrid saga to an end. Manjunath’s brave deed was despite being stabbed on his left palm and the left side of his abdomen by Dastagir.
At about 7.20 pm, Manjunath heard a woman screaming and saw Dastagir running with a dagger and a gold chain. He knew it was a chain-snatching incident. Throwing fear to the winds, and leaving his friend
Kariappa behind, he broke into a chase to catch Dastagir who was crossing MG Road to reach Church Street. He tried to grab Dastagir, who turned 180-degrees and stabbed the student twice, once on his left palm and then on the left side of his abdomen.
A bleeding Manjunath soon gained on Dastagir even as DAR constable Nagesh saw the student chasing him. Nagesh kicked Dastagir twice, but it failed to bring the offender down.
DAR constable Nagesh could not use his pistol for fear of hitting bystanders. So, he egged Manjunath on to chase and nab him and himself rejoined the pursuit, pistol in hand.
Looking at Manjunath and Nagesh chasing a chain-snatcher, Mukesh, a bar employee, too, set in hot pursuit and gained on Dastagir. But Dastagir was quick to swivel around and stab Mukesh in his hand.
Meanwhile, an unidentified man joined the chase on his cycle. At one point near Church Street entrance from St Mark’s Road, the cyclist threw his cycle on Dastagir, forcing the latter to fall. But Dastagir managed to get up and continue running, only to come face-to-face with two unsuspecting police constables, Pratap and Mahesh. The constables tried to catch Dastagir, but the latter stabbed Mahesh and Pratap too.
Another passer-by hit Dastagir on his right shoulder with a hard plastic pipe. That was when a bleeding Manjunath caught up with Dastagir and pounced on him to wrest the dagger from the habitual offender, who was then arrested.
Manjunath told The New Indian Express that he and his friend Kariappa had set out of their home in Banashankari to get his mobile phone repaired on SP Road. As shops were closed, the duo came to MG Road to enjoy the evening when the incident took place.
“I went to Bowring Hospital for treatment of my stab wounds, but police sub-inspector Amaresh of Cubbon Park, who arrived there, brought me to a private hospital where the doctors put five stitches on my left palm. The wound in my abdomen was luckily a very slight one. The sub-inspector paid out of his own pocket,” said Manjunath, adding that it was probably out of gratitude.