Chain snatchers go on a spree in city

In a span of three hours and 10 minutes, miscreants have made away with gold chains worth Rs 5.55 lakh in the city on Tuesday.

A bike-borne youth struck a woman, identified as Lalita near Shirdi Sai Temple, in Ramakrishna Nagar ‘E’ and ‘F’ block at 11.30 am.  She was relieved of gold chain weighing 80 gram worth Rs two lakh.

Much before police could heave a sigh of relief, another woman was robbed of her chain in Jayalakshmipuram. Pankaja Rakesh, employed at record section of B M Hospital was walking to a nearby bank to draw her salary, when she was relieved of her gold chain worth Rs 85,000. The time was 1.20 pm.

It was quickly followed by another at Vijayanagar around 1.30 pm. A youth on a two-wheeler yanked off the mangal sutra worth Rs 1.2 lakh from Girija near her house in second stage of Vijayanagar. She was returning home after alighting from a bus. The time was 1.30 pm.

At 1.45 pm, another woman fell victim but at Gokulam in V V Puram limits. R Sujata wife of Subramanyam was going to a tailor’s shop when two youth on a two-wheeler robbed her. She lost mangal sutra worth Rs 1.50 lakh.

The police personnel who were sent into a tizzy following the surge in chain snatchings, went on vehicle inspection spree, especially of that of motorcycles in all the police limits till night hours.

Quoting victims’ version, the police said the miscreants were wearing different dresses and also the vehicles, making it difficult to say- whether it was the same persons involved in all the four cases or not.