Bikers snatch Greek woman’s mobile phone at Jantar Mantar

The woman, who is staying in a hotel in Connaught Place area, was walking near Jantar Mantar when her Samsung Galaxy mobile phone was snatched by two men riding a motorcycle. A case of snatching has been registered at the Parliament Street police station.

A 25-year-old woman from Greece became the latest victim of bike-borne snatchers in high-security Lutyens’ Delhi on Tuesday night.

The snatching with a foreigner barely 200 hundred meters away from the Parliament police station and the office of the district DCP has once again proved how bike-borne snatchers are getting bolder and targeting pedestrians at their will even in Delhi’s most secured areas. (HT Photo)

The woman, who is staying in a hotel in Connaught Place area, was walking near Jantar Mantar when her Samsung Galaxy mobile phone was snatched by two men riding a motorcycle. A case of snatching has been registered at the Parliament Street police station.

Brija Kishore Singh, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), said they have formed teams to probe the case and bring the snatchers to book. “Our teams are scanning the footage of CCTV cameras installed around the crime scene for clues. Other cameras on the route taken by the Greek woman are also being examined,” said the DCP.

The DCP said that the woman, Anastasia Gkosiopulou, in her complaint said that on Tuesday around 10.30 pm, she stepped out of the hotel she was staying in to buy ice-cream at Jantar Mantar.

“The woman was near Kerala House when two men on a motorcycle came close to her and snatched her mobile phone. She screamed for help and by the time some passersby rushed to her help, the snatchers had fled on their motorcycle,” said a senior police officer.

The matter was reported to the police by a passerby. A police team reached the spot and recorded the woman’s statement. She told them that the snatchers were riding without helmets. However, she could not see their faces properly or remember the bike’s registration number because everything happened within a few seconds.

The snatching with a foreigner barely 200 hundred meters away from the Parliament police station and the office of the district DCP has once again proved how bike-borne snatchers are getting bolder and targeting pedestrians at their will even in Delhi’s most secured areas.

Delhi Police statistics show that 3,717 snatching cases were reported till May 31. It means that on an average 25 snatching cases were reported every day, at least one every hour. On July 10, a 26-year-old Manipuri woman was injured when she fell out of the moving auto-rickshaw while fighting off bike-borne snatchers from snatching her bag near Moolchand flyover.

On December 29 last year, Sharmila Rai, 39, from Darjeeling on her way to Connaught Place was grievously wounded when she tried to fight off a snatching attempt by three men and fell out of the auto near Defence Colony flyover.