Five chain-snatching cases in three hours stun Bengaluru
BENGALURU: In separate incidents, bike-borne chain snatchers targeted five women in a daring series of thefts carried out in broad daylight in the east and central parts of the city on Saturday. The police suspect that the same gang could be behind the incidents. All the incidents took place within a duration of three hours.
In the first incident, 40-year-old domestic help Anuradha was going to an apartment for work at 9.30 am when two bike-borne men snatched her gold chain and rode off. She raised an alarm and residents alerted the Sadashivanagar police. CCTV cameras captured the episode. In another incident, 44-year-old Venkatalakshmi, a resident of Kasturinagar, was returning home at 10 am when bike-borne men pushed her and fled with her mangalsutra.
In the next incident, two bike-borne men snatched the gold chain of Tanuja M, a resident of Postal Colony near Sanjayanagar. She was returning home from the MS Ramaiah Hospital at 12.30pm when the miscreants on a black Bajaj Pulsar two-wheeler targeted her. Auto drivers rushed to her help but the men had fled. They alerted the Sanjaynagar police.
Two other similar incidents were reported in Banasawadi and Hennur police station limits. Senior police officers held a meeting on Saturday afternoon to trace the miscreants following the series of incidents. Police have collected clues about the vehicles used by the miscreants and a special team has been formed to trace them.
A senior police officer said the team is analysing CCTV footage of the incidents and an alert has been sounded to all police stations in the seven divisions. The police have also put up check-posts.
“All five incidents took place within a period of three hours. So we suspect a single gang might have been involved in all the crimes and they might have used different bikes. We have also gathered information about habitual offenders who were released from jail recently,” the police officer said.