In three incidents of chain snatching in the city, three women were robbed of their jewellery by robbers. Two of them were standing right in front of their homes while the third woman was out for a morning walk.
Shanthakumari (52) was plucking flowers from a tree in front of her home in Attiguppe at 4.45 am when a youngster accosted her on the pretext of inquiring about an address. “When she approached him, he took out a knife and asked her to hand over all the jewellery she had on her. She was wearing a chain and handed it over to him,” said Chandra Layout police, who are investigating the case.
According to the police, there were a few neighbours who were outside at the time, but, nobody came to her aid.
“The youngster took her chain and walked to his bike, which was parked a few metres away and went away,” police said.
Manjula (79) was another victim of chain snatching by a bike-borne youngster. The chain-snatcher inquired about an address, snatched her chain and fled. The Mahalakshmi Layout police, have registered a case and are investigating.
“We are looking at CCTV cameras put up outside a shop in the area to ascertain the identity of the miscreant,” DCP Sandeep Patil said.
In the third incident, 80-year-old Pillamma was robbed of her 60 gm gold chain. Two unidentified bike-borne individuals stopped her and snatched her chain. According to the Mico Layout police, the incident occurred at 6.10 am when she was out for a morning walk.
Joint Commissioner of Police (East) Sharath Chandra, who is in charge of investigations with regard to chain snatching, said the police had strengthened beat policing even in the morning to check such incidents.
“We are also putting up posters to create awareness on chain snatching incidents in the city. Posters have been put up in parks and other areas where many of these incidents are happening,” he said, adding that the police were also also advising people against wearing jewellery when going out for morning walks.
“One of the incidents took place when the woman was putting rangoli in front of her home. It is safer to avoid wearing jewellery at times when there are no people around who may come to your defence,” Chandra said.