Basavanagudi's old women soft target for chain snatchers

Basavanagudi, the South Bengaluru locality known for its bustling markets and quiet residential quarters, has become a soft target for chain snatchers who are robbing elderly women even they are accompanied by their husbands.

2 incidents, 3 days

At least two chain-snatchings were reported in three days. Police have intensified patrolling and are hunting for the culprits.

Around 8 am on Thursday, Padmavathi, 58, lost a part of her gold chain when two men riding a motorbike accosted her at NR Colony 8th Cross as she walked home to Sannidhi Road with her husband. The couple had gone to Sringeri Bakery in NR Colony but had to return as it was closed.

The pillion rider pounced on Padmavathi’s mangalsutra but she held onto it reflexively. The chain broke into two. The duo fled with one of the pieces. Although the couple raised an alarm, the chain snatchers rode off before passersby could respond. The snatched chain was worth Rs 50,000.

Two days earlier, 67-year-old Rathnamma was robbed of her mangalsutra and gold necklace under similar circumstances. Rathnamma, a resident of Gowdanapalya, was walking to a bus stop with her husband Sheshaiah Shetty when two bike-borne men waylaid them on Old Market Road, Gandhi Bazaar, around 9 am on February 25.

The pillion rider robbed her mangalsutra and necklace, both worth Rs 3.3 lakh. The couple was returning from a wedding reception when the crime occurred.

A police officer said the chain-snatchings were possibly committed by a single gang. Two separate cases have been registered under IPC section 397 (robbery with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt).