Elderly woman targeted on Narayana Shastry Road
Mysore/Mysuru: After taking a break due to the raging COVID pandemic, chain-snatching gangs are back in the city and today early morning, a gold chain of an elderly woman was snatched in a busy locality. Usually, bike-borne miscreants wearing helmets target elderly citizens. This time, however, the criminal, who was offering prayers in front of a temple, yanked off the woman’s gold chain and took to heels.
The incident took place at 6.45 am today at Narayana Shastry Road. The victim is 68-year-old Neelamma, wife of Anand and a resident of Narayana Shastry Road in Devaraja Mohalla. She is the mother-in-law of C. Narayanagowda, President of Mysuru Hotel Owners Association. Neelamma, who had gone to purchase milk from a nearby shop, was returning home when a youth, who was offering prayers outside Sri Chandramouleshwara Temple in the locality, snatched her 25-gram gold mangalasutra worth over Rs. 1 lakh and fled from the spot. A dazed Neelamma could not even raise an alarm and by the time she realised that she had been robbed, the criminal had vanished.
Speaking on the incident, Narayanagowda told Star of Mysore that his mother-in-law told him that she had noticed the youth roaming near the temple since the last 15 days.
“He would have observed my mother-in-law’s daily morning routine and had targeted her after waiting for an opportune moment. She had covered the gold chain with her saree pallu and despite this, the criminal managed to snatch it,” he said.
Devaraja Inspector Diwakar, Sub-Inspector Raju and staff conducted mahazar besides registering a case. A CCTV camera installed near the Union Bank of India on Narayana Shastry Road has captured the chain snatcher fleeing and the Police are examining the footage for more clues. Residents and morning shoppers, especially women, said that they were scared to venture out through isolated roads.
“People are already tensed about the spread of COVID-19 and this chain snatching menace has scared us further. Shockingly, the incident occurred in broad daylight,” a woman said.
The reason why chain snatching is increasing because, they are not getting punished severly.
They are considered petty thieves and let go after a while. They really are dangerous, can
kill a victim by dragging them until the chain comes of their neck.. Before sentencing them, they
should be brought to the street of the victim, gather people and have them beat the thief black and
blue, before taking him/her to the police custody. This may instill fear and stop the chain snatching.
Until they get capital citizen punishment, nothing can be stopped. Citizen punishment under the supervision
of police should be started. After all this is democracy and people decide..