E-Paper
Dug-up road, mud and slush help Delhi cops nab a snatcher
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
A road dug upon the side by a civic agency and the slush created after the recent rain inadvertently helped police nab a snatcher in east Delhi’s Durgapuri on Sunday evening, the police said.
The motorcycle-borne suspects ran into the dug-up road and fell, leaving the pillion rider unconscious and in police net.
The incident happened around 3.30 pm on Sunday in the jurisdiction of the Mansarovar Park police station when businessman Darshan Singh was out to visit his sister’s home for a family function.
Accompanied by his children and brother, Singh had just parked his Honda City car on the roadside and was walking on the Tees Foota Road in Durgapuri when the two suspects rode close to him and targeted his neck.
“The pillion rider slapped my neck hard and pulled my gold chain,” said Singh, 52, who deals in the scrap business.
Singh recovered quickly and shouted for help, which drew the attention of the public ahead even as a policeman patrolling the street launched a chase, Amit Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) said.
The suspected snatchers had barely gone 100 metres from the crime spot when their motorcycle ran straight towards the dug-up road on their left.
“The road was dug up and mud and stones were lying. The rain had caused a slush to form around that place. The motorcycle first hit a large stone in the pile of mud and caused their vehicle to skid,” the victim said.
While the rider managed to recover, pick up the motorcycle and ride away, his partner was knocked unconscious.
“His head and face were bleeding as he had fallen on a stone. He was unconscious,” said Singh.
When Singh and the policeman checked his hands, they allegedly found the snatched gold chain.
The police are yet to ascertain which civic agency had dug up the road .
The DCP identified the nabbed suspect as 42-year-old Aamir. “A resident of Ghaziabad, he has been involved in multiple such crimes in the past. We are digging up his past,” said the DCP, adding his partner has been identified.
In the past, motorists and pedestrians have been left injured or even dead due to potholes and dug-up roads in the capital.
In January last year, a three-year-old girl was crushed under an e-rickshaw whose driver was trying to avoid running into a dug-up service lane in West Delhi’s Dwarka.
Before that, a 61-year-old businessman was killed in North Delhi’s Civil Lines was killed after his scooter allegedly ran into a pothole.
In 2018, there were 18 deaths due to potholes on Delhi’s roads, shows data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
