Chain-snatching incidents rock Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur, March 2: Beware. Splinter gangs of chain-snatchers are on the prowl at the areas like Sakchi Jubilee Park and Circuit House Area in Bistupur.

Despite mobile police on bikes as well as in SUVs patrolling the roads round the clock, the incidents of broad-day-light chain-snatching on the roads like Circuit House Road and Jubilee Road reflect that the criminals are smarter than the cops on patrolling duty.

SSP M Tamil Vanan said the incidents of chain-snatching in broad-day-light despite an intensified patrolling have put them in a challenging mood.

“Areas like Sakchi Bistupur main road, railway station, Kadma Sonari link road are more prone to such cases. The gang ride up to the victim in their motorcycle and ask for directions. At a convenient time they commit the crime and flee the scene,” said a police official.

Officials say that these chain snatchers use special tools and customised motorcycles. Special pliers are used to cut chains. Many boost the engine power of their bike by fitting imported carburetors and quick action throttles.

Police say that only few women report chain-snatching incidents. Most of them go unreported. “We have alerted all the police stations across the city in view of the growing reports of chain snatching. Police have upped their vigil, especially in vulnerable areas in the evenings,” said the senior superintendent of police.

Conmen have been adopting different tricks to divert the attention of the public. In one such snatching incident on Saturday, two youths were arrested for allegedly picking up a bag of a young woman at the crossing of the Kadma-Sonari Link Road under Bistupur police station area.

Though one of the accused was nabbed an hour after committing the theft, the police failed to recover the stolen goods from his possession.  

Notably, this was one of the several incidents that took place on that road within one month.  In an earlier occasion, two bike-borne criminals picked up the money-purse of a woman while she was riding a scooty with her son sitting as pillion rider.   What was common in this was that both the incidents took place in the broad-day-light.

In the wake of sudden surge observed in the snatching cases, especially amongst the women, residents of the city are perturbed over the issue from the past few weeks. More than five snatching incidents have been reported in the past two days.

According to police sources, most of the youths involved in the incidents of chain or purse snatching are drug addicts. They adopt different types of modus operandi — either a youth snatches the purse or a chain in lonely places, or engages the victim in a conversation and commits the crime.