CHENNAI: For the last two days, hundreds of policemen have been posted all along the Marina beach and every person visiting the beach had come under police radar to prevent any protest over the Cauvery issue. But late on Sunday, when masked robbers snatched a handbag from a woman and escaped from Kamarajar Salai — which faces the beach — the cops did little. The bag contained Rs 80,000 in cash. Besides, five other robberies were reported across the city within a span of six hours.Mohammed Shakir and his wife were returning home by motorbike from a movie late in the night when they were targeted by some robbers on Kamarajar Salai. “At around 12.45 am, they were riding on Kamarajar Salai near Aavin gate when two men snatched the handbag from the pillion-rider and fled the scene,” said an investigation officer.
A close relative of the victim said that Shakir, who runs a hardware shop in Broadway, had withdrawn and kept `80,000 in the bag to take it to the shop at the beginning of the financial year. “The duo had kept the money in the handbag which the victim was holding. The men who had covered their faces with handkerchiefs were riding close to Mohammed and even before he could realise what was happening, the miscreants snatched the bag and fled the scene,” the relative added.
“Though Mohammed screamed for help, the policemen at the scene did not respond nor did they chase the suspects. Mohammed himself chased the suspects on his bike, but they managed to escape,” he added.
A case has been registered by the Anna Square police, on a complaint that `80,000 in cash and two mobile phones were robbed.For the past two days, the Marina and the entire Kamarajar Salai have been provided with police personnel following messages circulated in the social media, calling for a protest at the Marina beach. The robbery was reported hardly a few metres away from the DGP office.
At 6.50 pm on Sunday, two bike-borne men snatched a mobile phone from Hemalatha (32) of Arumbakkam, who was walking down the GN Chetty Road in T. Nagar. Three hours later, 26-year-old Prasanth was walking back home after his coaching class when two men snatched his phone at Janakiraman Street in Ashok Nagar and escaped.
At Virugambakkam, at around 10.30 am, a man working in an audit office was robbed of a cell phone. Similarly, two bike-borne men snatched a handbag from Smitha Joshi (25) of Perambur, who was travelling in an autorickshaw in Pondy Bazaar and escaped. A eight-sovereign gold chain was snatched from a girl while she was crossing the road at Aynavaram on Sunday night. Sivapriya, a resident of Aynavaram, was crossing the road at Muthsaman Kovil Street when two men, who came on a two-wheeler, snatched her gold chain and fled the scene.