Woman falls from auto amid snatching in Delhi’s Saket

The snatchers dragged her for a distance before she eventually let go of her phone. The suspects are yet to be nabbed, say police

A 24-year-old woman travelling in an auto-rickshaw was pulled out of the moving vehicle by motorcycle-borne men who tried to snatch her phone in Saket in south Delhi, police said on Monday, with the victim suffering a fractured nose and other injuries during the incident.

The snatching attempt was captured on CCTV cameras and that investigators were going through footage to identify the two culprits. (Representational Image)

Officers involved in the case said the snatching attempt was captured on CCTV cameras and that investigators were going through footage to identify the two culprits.

The incident took place on Friday afternoon, and a complaint was lodged at the Saket police station later in the day under sections 379 (theft), 356 (assault during theft), 390 (robbery) and 34 (common intention)of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The victim, Yuvika Chowdhary, a teacher at a school in Saket, boarded an auto from the Anupam complex around 2.10pm on Friday, and headed towards her home in Neb Sarai, 4km away.

Chowdhary, addressing the media at her Devli home on Monday, said the incident took place at Khokha Market in Saket, when two men on a motorcycle approached the auto.

The pillion rider reached inside the auto and tried to snatch her cellphone, an Apple iPhone 13, which she was holding in her hand, she said.

“I held on to my phone tightly, but the pillion rider on that motorcycle pulled me by my hand. I fell out of the auto and face-first on the road,” she said.

The snatcher dragged her for a distance before she eventually let go of her phone. The bikers fled thereafter.

In her police complaint, she said the snatchers were in their early 20s, not wearing helmets and were riding a Hero Splendor motorcycle.

The woman was admitted to Max Hospital in Saket, where she underwent treatment for her injuries, and was later discharged.

Chowdhary added that she helped police identify the suspects on CCTV footage from the area.

“But the police have neither been able to catch the culprits, nor retrieve my phone,” she said. “I have several injuries to my face, and my nose is fractured. There are some internal injuries and blood clots on my face.”

The violent snatching comes days after motorcycle-borne snatchers in west Delhi’s Sagarpur robbed and stabbed three people within 10 minutes, killing a 74-year-old man.