Tamil Nadu teen chases, nabs chain-snatcher

CHENNAI: When N Surya chased and caught a chain-snatcher running out of an Anna Nagar clinic on Wednesday, he believed he had done his duty. A little more than 24 hours later, the 17-year-old who works in an automobile spare parts shop outside the clinic was a hero, with wishes pouring in from various corners.
Recalling the incident, a grinning Surya on Thursday said he was in his shop when he saw a man, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, running out of the clinic holding a gold chain. “I then heard cries for help and decided to give a chase. It is his first time (offence) I think. He kept dropping the gold pieces from the chain,” said the teenager.

“I kept picking up the gold he dropped and reached him after about a kilometre. I gave him a blow on the leg and he fell to the ground. I then punched him on the nose and as he bled I helped him wash it with water from a packet,” he said.

The Class IX dropout, who is trained as an airconditioner mechanic, said others in the area were busy capturing the ‘chase’ on their cellphones despite seeing a young boy run after an offender. “All seemed selfish,” he said. The offender, who police identified as 26-year-old Janakiraman of Tiruvallur, was later sent to jail.

Janakiraman had on Wednesday morning walked into the clinic saying he was the husband of a regular to the facility and at knifepoint snatched a 10 sovereign gold chain from Dr D Amudha, a 50-year-old gynaecologist. He was running away when Surya caught him.

Surya, whose father Narayanan runs a tailoring shop at Maduravoyal and his mother Ellammal is a homemaker, was lauded by police commissioner A K Vishwanathan who also gave him cash reward.

The teenager’s two sisters are engineering students.