Traffic cop catches thief sprinting away with money bag

A vigilant traffic constable caught a 23-year-old robber who raced away with the cash bag of an Andhra-based businessman on the busy NR Road in Kalasipalya on Monday.

Police constable Prashanth, attached to the VV Puram traffic police station, was on duty at NR Circle when a car stopped and a man got down with a bag. A man who followed him dropped a ward of currency notes and asked the bag holder to pick it up.

The bag holder, a businessman, checked to ensure that the money had not fallen from his pocket. The suspect — working in tandem with the man who dropped the notes — used that occasion to snatch the bag from the businessman's hand and tried to escape. The businessman held on to the bag and shouted for help.

Constable Prashanth, deputed nearby, chased the thief, who was sprinting away and pinned him down. The accused was later handed over to the jurisdictional Kalasipalaya police.

Senior police officials lauded the constable for his alertness.

The police have identified the suspect as Suresh, a native of Chennai, while his associate managed to escape. Both of them belonged to a gang from Tamil Nadu, which committed attention diversion thefts in the city, the police said.