BENGALURU: In a stroke of bad luck, a 78-year-old woman was robbed twice within a gap of 45 minutes in Ramanagara district.
In the ordeal, the victim, identified as Puttamma, lost her 30-gram gold chain, valued at Rs 1.5 lakh. Puttamma is a resident of Kanakanagara, on Sathanur Road. Between 4.30 pm and 5.15 pm on Saturday, she was making her way alone to a temple in Appagere, when she was targeted. A scooter-borne miscreant accosted her and tried to snatch her chain, and did manage to flee with half of it, while the victim held onto the other half.
Soon, another man who came on a bike, took Puttamma on his vehicle to chase and catch the miscreant who had robbed her.
After pretending to have searched for the accused, the bike-borne man dropped Puttamma at CMC Town, behind the Housing Board, which is close to her house. When she was thanking him, the man snatched the remaining half of the chain. He also threatened to throw acid on Puttamma, holding out a plastic bottle containing some liquid, while asking her to hand over her gold bangles and earrings.
When the elderly woman started screaming for help, the accused splashed the liquid on her face and sped away. Luckily, it turned out to be kerosene. Hearing her cries, locals rushed to her aid and informed her son Sreenivas, who has since filed a police complaint.
“My mother is in shock. Luckily, the liquid happened to be kerosene. The first miscreant came on a scooter, while the other came on a bike. Both must be accomplices,” Sreenivas told TNIE.
A case of robbery under Section 309(4) of BNS has been registered against the two unidentified accused, and the Channapatna Rural police are looking for them.