HYDERABAD: A woman morning walker was mugged and her gold necklace snatched at knifepoint in broad daylight near KBR Park in the posh Banjara Hills area of the city around 9.30 am on Wednesday.
The victim, Ankem Naveena (32), put up a stiff resistance for about 10 minutes but the robber made good his escape only for a while as he was ultimately caught by the police.
Naveena, a regular jogger, finished her daily laps, with earphones plugged in, around the green belt around KBR Park, on Road No. 12. At around 9.30 am she decided to return home and was walking when someone pulled her hair with force. When she turned back, she saw a young man holding a knife and pointing it at her. He demanded that her Mangalasutram, cell phone and purse be handed over to him without any fuss. He promised not to harm her if she gave him the ornament, she told Express later.
“I said I did not have anything and started shouting ‘donga, donga’ (thief, thief). He pounced on me and tried to snatch my necklace. As I tightly held a part of the chain, he managed to pull only the other half. Frightened out of my wits, I flopped down on the ground. Then he asked for my mobile phone. When I refused, he pulled it out of my pocket. I resisted but it fell down during the scuffle,” she said.
Enraged, he slapped her three or four times, and made a gash on her arm with the knife. “I fell over the phone and continued to shout. When I said my husband works in the police department just to scare him, he ran away. The fight with him went on for 10 minutes. Then I called up my husband, Ankem Hari. He reached the spot and lodged a complaint with police,” she said. Banjara Hills police caught Santosh and registered a case and remanded him.
Robber was a Flower Seller
The offender, Kalapi Santosh (19), used to sell flowers near Apollo Hospital in Jubilee Hills. He wanted easy money and took to stealing.
He was released from the Chanchalaguda jail only on Aug 31 after being jailed for four months for stealing a cell phone and two motorbikes.