80-year-old woman resists chain-snatching attempt, suffers fractures to her fingers

PUNE: Two men on a motorcycle slapped, pushed and left an 80-year-old woman with fractured fingers when she resisted their attempt to snatch her gold chain worth Rs35,000 outside her shop on Shankarsheth Road on Monday.
The elderly woman, name withheld on request, fell on the ground as the suspects sped away on their bike with the gold pendant they could manage to free from her grip, an officer of the Swargate police said on Thursday.
“Once they fled the spot, the woman raised an alarm, following which residents of the area took her to a nearby hospital. She gave us her statement on Wednesday. We have registered a robbery case against the two motorcycle riders and have launched a hunt to trace them,” the officer said.
Sub-inspector R C Usgaonkar of the Swargate police said he believed that the suspects in this case were the same who went on a chain-snatching spree on the morning of May 6. “They targeted elderly women in Wanowrie, Sadashiv Peth, Narayan Peth, Kasba Peth, Somwar Peth and Bibvewadi between 7am and 8.30am,” he said.
Taking about the present case, Usgaonkar said, “The woman and her son run a small bakery-cum-grocery shop on Shankarsheth Road. The woman was cleaning the area in front of the shop when the two men arrived there on a motorcycle.”
The pillion rider alighted from the two-wheeler and expressed his desire to buy a chocolate from the woman’s shop. “The woman then started walking towards the entrance of the shop with the suspect closely walking behind her. Suddenly, the suspect tried to snatch her gold chain worth Rs 35,000,” Usgaonkar said.
However, the alert woman grabbed her chain. “As the woman retaliated, the suspect applied more force to snatch it. The man then pushed her with all his energy even as the woman continued to hold on to the chain. Realizing that the woman was in no mood to let go of the chain, he slapped her with all his might,” the officer said.
In the scuffle, the suspect managed to grab the gold pendant attached to the chain. “As soon as the pendant broke away from the chain, the man ran and sat on the motorcycle and the duo sped away,” Usgaonkar said, adding that the pendant was worth Rs 13,000 and weighed around five gram.
Usgaonkar said the woman suffered fractures in her fingers. “Officers of the crime branch of the Pune police, along with those of various police stations, are searching for the two men,” he added.