Armed miscreants rob three women of chains

BENGALURU: Two chain-snatching incidents and a robbery were reported within a span of 50 minutes in the jurisdiction of Indiranagar and Ramamurthy Nagar police stations, on Thursday night. Police suspect the same gang is involved in all three cases.

An armed robbery and chain-snatching took place in Indiranagar, while another chain-snatching was reported in Ramamurthy Nagar. In the first incident, Sameena Kauser (55) was robbed of her gold valuables at 8.42pm on Indiranagar 7th Cross. Kauser told TNIE that she went to her brother’s house to visit her mother. “As I went to the first floor and waited after ringing the doorbell, a man aged 25-27 years wearing a mask threatened me with a long (sword). He had followed me from the gate but I was unaware. He asked me not to scream or he would kill me, and demanded that I give my gold jewels. I froze, and gave my gold chain and ring,” she said.

Kauser said the miscreant escaped with the valuables and hopped on to a scooter waiting outside. The two men had followed Kauser on the scooter.At 9.20pm, the miscreants struck Lakshmidevi, a 65-year-old woman who was strolling outside her residence on Indiranagar 6th Cross. Armed with a sword, they tried to snatch her gold mangalsutra, and when she resisted, they snatched the 50-gram chain before pushing her and speeding away. She sustained bruises on her neck.

In Ramamurthy Nagar, around 8.45pm, miscreants snatched a 35-gram gold chain from Balagowri (33), who was in standing in front of her house, feeding her toddler. While police suspect the same gang to be behind these incidents, Lakshmidevi’s son Hariprasad  said police must step up patrolling inIndiranagar. “The area is known as a posh locality, and serving and retired bureaucrats live here. If the situation is so scary here, what about other areas in the city? Police must increase patrolling, especially during early mornings and late evenings.” Another resident alleged that this is not the first such crime here. “Whenever such incidents happen, police show up and patrol the area for a week or so, then they just stop.”