CHENNAI: City police are on their toes after eight incidents of mobile and gold chain snatching were reported in the city in the last 24 hours. Of them, three were reported in the same locality in a span of one hour and police suspect the same person involved in all three crimes.
Mallika (50), a resident of Nochikuppam in Mylapore, works as a maid at an apartment on Prof Sanjeev Street. On Sunday morning when she was on her way to work when a man riding his two-wheeler snatched her four- sovereign chain.
In another incident, Amudha (45), who runs a grocery shop on Karneeswarar Kovil Street, had come around 6.30 to open the shop when a man snatched tried to snatch her five-sovereign chain. “The woman tried to resist and pulled the chain which was cut. By then the man escaped.” said the officer. In the third incident, Anjala (45), a resident of Kooil Thottam, was walking to her workplace at Muthu Street, where a man snatched her chain. “The footage had recorded a man clad in a black t-shirt on a bike had snatched the chains,” said the officer. A case has been registered and investigations are on.
In other two cases of mobile-snatching public managed to catch the suspects. However, police are trying to locate criminals involved in the rest of six snatching incidents.
Pravin Kumar, a software professional, who works in ,Shoinganallur was on his way to work on Saturday evening. Due to the rains, he had apparently parked his bike near Thoraipakkam and was speaking over the phone, when the miscreants robbed the phone at knife- point.
In another cellphone snatching incident, public waiting at Moolakadai bus stop caught hold of two men who allegedly tried to snatch a mobile phone from a resident of Korukkupet. However, they were handed over to the police. Similarly, a 16-year old juvenile was caught when he tried to rob the phone from a fellow passenger in an MTC bus in Velachery. He was also handed over to the police.
In a bag snatching incident, one Pankajam riding pillion on her husband’s bike was nearing Kamarajar Salai, when two men riding another bike snatched her bag containing mobile phone and cash on Saturday late evening. The couple were returning home after visiting their relative in Puzhal when the incident happened. It may be recalled that bag snatching incident in Foreshore Estate a couple week back had led to the death of two persons, including a woman.