Chain snatching crimes have once again surfaced in the Temple City.
Complaints were coming in from women residents mostly from Teppakulam, Anna Nagar and S.S. Colony, among other pockets, police said.
But for negligible inputs gathered from the victims, the investigators said that they were not able to gather credible information about the robbers. The two-wheeler registration numbers furnished by the victims were either fake, when checked, or the victims themselves failed to take note of the numbers.
Explaining the modus operandi, a police officer said that after identifying lone women walking on streets, the robbers, wearing full-mask, committed the crime. Some other robbers forcibly took away the booty in a flash and even before the victims realised it, they escaped from the scene under the cover of darkness. Mostly, the crimes occurred in the early hours or between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., he added.
On Tuesday morning, when K. Pandiammal (40) of Ambedkar Colony, Mullai Nagar, was on a morning stroll on the Gokhale Road, she lost her gold chain to a robber who fled in a two-wheeler.
A police officer said that the incident occurred around 6 a.m. and the robbers fled with about six sovereigns of gold chain.
Many public felt that mobile police patrol teams should be deployed in pockets where womenfolk went for strolls in parks and grounds alone.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) V. Jeyashri said that they had obtained some clues about the robbers.
According to police records, in 2007, 40 cases of chain snatching were reported, while it was 65 in 2008 and till November 30, 65 cases were reported in the city this year. Pockets prone to chain snatching incidents were Anna Nagar and Teppakulam police stations areas. During this year, the police had so far solved 24 cases (out of 65) and recovered the articles. In June this year, 10 cases of chain snatching were reported in the city, while it was eight in May, seven in February, July and November, six in April and October, four in January, three in March and two in September respectively.
