A balloon seller hailing from Rajasthan was rewarded with a cash prize of ₹5,000 for catching a snatcher in Sector 22, Chandigarh.
Jamna Lal, 30, was honoured by Chandigarh director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Baniwal and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal at the former’s office on Wednesday.
As per the police, Jamna, who sells balloons in Sector 22-B, was sitting with his wife and six-year-old son on a footpath on Tuesday when a snatcher came and took away the mobile phone his son was playing games on.
Jamna chased the snatcher and managed to catch him near the Sector-16/17/22/23 chowk. He later handed over the snatcher identified as Sunny, 19, of Sector 28, to the police.
An FIR under Section 379-A of the IPC was registered against Sunny, who already has a similar case registered against him at the Sector-19 police station. The police said that Sunny was a drug addict and committed snatching to fund his addiction.