Another journalist in Delhi targeted by snatchers, crime caught on camera

The footage showed two motorcycle-borne helmeted men halting briefly before closing in on the woman, snatching her mobile phone and speeding away. The incident happened at around 6.30 pm and the CCTV footage showed other people on the road at the time of the incident.

Just a day after a journalist was injured and hospitalised after falling off a running auto while fighting off snatchers in south Delhi’s CR Park, another newswoman was targeted by motorcycle-borne robbers on Monday evening, police said.

The police took down my complaint and said that they had registered the first information report (FIR) online (Reuters Photo/Representative Image)

Although the woman approached the police soon after the crime, the police registered an online FIR only under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 379, which deals with theft.

For snatching, the case is usually registered under IPC section 356 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft). This section was added on Thursday, after CCTV footage of the incident emerged.

Additional commissioner of police (south-east) Kumar Gyanesh, however, said, “We added IPC section 356 after recording her statement.”

The footage showed two motorcycle-borne helmeted men halting briefly before closing in on the woman, snatching her mobile phone and speeding away. The incident happened at around 6.30 pm and the CCTV footage showed other people on the road at the time of the incident.

The footage showed the woman’s bag falling off her hand as she launched a chase on foot.

“I chased them for 10 metres and then gave up. I begged passing motorists to help me with the chase, but no one came to my aid. Some asked me to get along with life as snatching incidents were now common in the neighbourhood,” said Radhika Choudhary who works as a reporter with a news channel in Okhla.

Choudhary was walking to her home in Govindpuri when she was targeted.

“As I headed to the local police station, I used another mobile phone to call on my stolen phone. The phone rang and the snatcher picked my call, but did not respond. For three minutes, he heard me crying and begging him to return my phone as it was an expensive one and had a lot of my work stored on it,” said Choudhary.

“The police took down my complaint and said that they had registered the first information report (FIR) online,” said Choudhary.

The investigators checked the CCTV cameras near the crime spot to find footage of the snatching, but they haven’t been able to make a breakthrough.

Kumar Gyanesh said that they believed the suspects to be in their 20s. “CCTV footage of the spot and nearby areas are being scanned. Vigil is being kept on movement of criminals with similar modus operandi and on jail-bail released criminals. Technical Surveillance has been mounted,” said Gyanesh.

The woman said that she was shaken by the incident and worried about sharing the news with her parents who live in Rajasthan. “Parents will be hesitant to send their daughters to a city like Delhi if they are targeted on busy roads like this,” said Choudhary.

The last week has seen several violent incidents of snatchings, robberies and murder. The snatching case involving the other woman journalist who was targeted in CR Park on Sunday evening is yet to be cracked even as three policemen in that area have been suspended over the incident.