Chennai: In just a matter of a few hours, Chennai city saw 10 chain snatching instances on Sunday night and in the early hours of Monday.
The spate of robberies was reportedly carried out by men on bikes who sped before an alarm was raised. According to police, the robberies began at 8 pm on Sunday and at least one other instance were reported every 30 minutes until Monday early morning. A police source told the newspaper that nearly 30 sovereigns of gold were snatched.
Police said a bike-borne duo snatched a mobile phone from an elderly woman pedestrian in Perumbakkam in the early hours of Monday. The victim, Balammal (75) of Pallavamannar Street in Perumbakkam was walking in Indira Nagar to sell flowers when two people on a bike followed her and snatched her three sovereigns gold chain. Even before she could realise what had happened, the duo fled the spot.
Based on her complaint, Pallikaranai police have registered a case and launched a hunt for the snatchers with the help of CCTV footage retrieved from the locality.The police said Muthu Lakshmi (65), a resident of Nilamagal Street in Adambakkam, was walking towards a temple in the locality early Monday morning. Two men on a two-wheeler snatched gold chain and fled the spot.
The Adambakkam police registered a case and further investigations are on.Police said four cases of chain snatching were reported in the Mylapore police district alone on Sunday night. The police have also released the CCTV footages of the incidents to nab the bike-borne snatchers.
According to police, Selvi, a resident of Erikarai Salai in Kotturpuram was walking back home after attending a marriage in the same locality on Sunday when two men on a bike attempted to snatch her mobile. Police said when Selvi hold her chain tightly, the men allegedly punched her face and fled with the five sovereigns chain. Similarly, Sudha Devi, of Icehouse, was robbed of her five sovereigns of gold on Sunday night, while she was walking home from the beach. The Mylapore police registered a case and further investigations are on.
In a similar way, Jeyalakshmi of Royapettah, an elderly woman Santha of Mylapore and two other women in Egmore and Thirumangalam who were walking alone the road on Sunday night were snatched off their gold chains.
