Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

 
TIGHT VIGIL: Policemen check two-wheeler riders onBRAmbedkar Road near Vikasa Soudha on Thursday. Police have intensified the checkings as incidents of bike-borne miscreants snatching chains are on the rise. DH PHOTO

Two youths went on a chain-snatching spree targeting as many as 10 women, most of them senior citizens and homemakers, in less than six hours between 6.30 am and 12.30 pm on Thursday.

“We are convinced that the robberies are the handiwork of two members of the notorious Irani gang. All the incidents have the stamp of their modus operandi. Special teams have been formed to nab the duo said to be aged between 25 and 30,” said a senior police officer.

According to the first of their victims, Sathyabhama, 60, a resident of BML Layout, Basaveshwaranagar, a man approached her at around 6.45 am when she was cleaning the floor in front of her house and asked for a residential address. He diverted her attention, snatched her 50gm gold chain and made his getaway on his accomplice’s bike.

About half an hour later, two men astride a motorbike snatched a 25gm chain from Dakshayini, an 80-year-old woman, when she was drawing ‘rangoli’ outside her house at Ashtagrama near Kamakshipalya, and vanished in minutes. The incident occurred at 6.55 am.

In Kalyan Nagar near Nagarabhavi, at around 7.20 am, two men followed Indiramma, 76, while she was on a morning walk along with her daughter-in-law, snatched her 70gm chain and sped away on a bike.

Jagadamba, 65, a resident of KHB Colony, was robbed in a similar fashion at 8.05 am while she out on a morning walk. She lost her 70gm chain worth Rs 1.5 lakh. Ten minutes later, at around 8.15, Shubhavani, 32, a resident of RPC Layout, who was returning home after morning walk, lost her 65gm chain in the same way.

Two miscreants followed Shanthamma, 65, who was returning home after dropping her grandson at school in Bhairappa Garden, Banashankari, at 8.55 am, robbed her of her chain worth Rs 3 lakh, and fled.

Around 9.05 am in Ittamadu, two men followed Vijayalakshmi, 72, a resident of Hanumanthanagar, who was on a morning walk near Hanumagiri hill, robbed her of her 40gm gold chain and made themselves scarce.

Two miscreants robbed a 50gm chain from Lalithamma, 60, a resident of 5th cross in Kengeri, while she was returning home after visiting Raghavendra Swamy temple at 10.30 am.

The youths followed Triveni, 55, a resident of Purnaprajna Layout on Uttarahalli Main Road at 11.45 am, when she was returning home after buying vegetables, snatched her 10gm chain and sped away on a motorcycle. She managed to hold on to a part of the chain weighing 30 grams, said the police.

Two men approached Sushma, a resident of BHEL 2nd stage in Rajarajeshwarinagar, at 12.05 pm and pretended to ask for a residential address. She grew suspicious as one of them came very close to her and held her chain.

However, the suspects snatched it and the chain broke into two pieces. He joined his accomplice who was waiting on a bike and the two fled,