Bhubaneswar: Throwing a direct challenge to the Commissionerate Police, two bike borne miscreants armed with sharp weapons allegedly snatched gold chain from a woman in Bhubaneswar while she was out to pluck flowers on early Sunday morning.
The woman has been identified as Anasuya Behera and is a resident of Khandagiri Bari area under Bharatpur Police limits in Bhubaneswar.
As per reports, the miscreants followed her while she was out of her home to pluck flowers for puja. One of the biker overpowered her with a sharp weapon and threatened to kill her while snatching a gold chain from her neck before fleeing the spot on the bike.
The entire episode has been recorded in a nearby CCTV camera which has been scrutinised by the police.
Speaking to OTV, Behera said, "I was plucking flowers at 7:30 am today when two youths came riding a bike. One of them came on to me with a sharp weapon and pushed me on to the ground. After I fell down, he tried to snatch the gold chain I was wearing. However, when I resisted, he hit me on my leg with the weapon and fled with the gold chain."
Her husband, Dr Sharat Kumar Behera, put the blame entirely on the local administration and policing in the area.
"Stealing has become a common thing in this area as criminals find it easy to loot without any police patrolling."
These kind of snatching cases have caused a headache for the Commissionerate Police as well. Responding to the rising loot cases in the Smart City, Bhubaneswar DCP, Umashankar Dash said, "We have been witnessing an average of 50-60 snatching cases per month in the last few years. Majority of those criminals commit these crimes after getting out on bail."
"However, we have introduced a system focusing on the street crimes. It has been made mandatory for the accused to log their presence at the police station after their release from jail on bail. We are also mapping all the places covered under CCTV," said Dash.
(Edited by Suryakant Jena)