A rising number of chain snatching cases being reported in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh have citizens worried, as unidentified miscreants struck again on Sunday.
According to the police, two men on a bike snatched a gold chain from a woman at Electricity Colony in Autonagar as she was walking home, and sped away, making it the seventh such incident in 10 days.
A case was registered and the police said that they were monitoring CCTV footage, to identify the accused.
The Times of India reported that five incidents of chain-snatching have been reported under the jurisdiction of the Patamata police station this month alone, three of which happened in a single day on August 17.
According to media reports, the first chain snatching occurred at around 10:30am at Gurunanak Nagar, followed by another incident at around 11am in Srinivasa Nagar Bank Colony.
At 11:30 am, another chain snatching incident happened at Ramachandra Nagar near Ayush Hospital.
The police suspect that a duo on a Pulsar bike is responsible for all three crimes, and are looking out for the accused.
The accused are generally college students or youngsters with bikes, who ride up to the victim, following which the pillion rider snatches the chain, and the rider speeds away, police said.
The ToI report adds that two incidents also occurred in Gannavaram police limits this week.
"We have kept special focus on chain snatchers who have become rampant in recent times. We are using advanced technology in finding the snatchers and hope we can catch them soon. Security in colonies is increased and more number of advanced surveillance cameras will be installed soon," Deputy Commissioner of Police L&O -1, Gajarao Bhupal, told Deccan Chronicle.