Manipur woman dies after falling from auto while trying to fight snatchers in Delhi

The 28-year-old woman from Manipur was targeted on August 8 and died after battling for her life at AIIMS for 12 days. The accused, including a minor, have been nabbed by Delhi police for the crime.

A 28-year-old woman, who had fallen off an auto while trying to save her bag from snatchers, succumbed to her injuries on Thursday.

Asmita managed to retain her bag, but suffered severe injuries to her head and other body parts in the process. She was taken to AIIMS trauma centre where she battled for her life before finally breathing her last on August 21. (HT FILE)

The woman, a native of Manipur, battled for her life at AIIMS trauma centre for 12 days before finally succumbing to severe head injuries on Thursday.

Police said the victim, Asmita, lived with her friends in south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur. She was taking cookery classes at a Gurgaon-based institute.

On August 8, Asmita had visited a friend’s home in nearby Chirag Delhi before she decided to travel to Connaught Place. So, she hired an auto to Hauz Khas Metro station.

She was on the Panchsheel Marg, barely a kilometre from the Metro station, when three motorcycle-borne snatchers struck. They went for her handbag that contained the woman’s mobile phone, identity cards, cash cards and some money.

“But Asmita decided to fight bag and pulled back at her bag. Since the snatchers were unwilling to let go, a tug of war ensued. In the tussle, the victim lost her balance and fell down from the running auto,” said a senior police officer.

Asmita managed to retain her bag, but suffered severe injuries to her head and other body parts in the process. She was taken to AIIMS trauma centre where she battled for her life before finally breathing her last on August 21.

While snatchers leaving people injured in the city is quite a common, a death due to a street crime is rare.

Incidentally, another 43-year-old woman had died on September 3 this month after she was hit by a running train, while trying to save her bag from a snatcher near Old Delhi railway station. Police then had nabbed two men for the crime, one of who later turned out to be a minor.

In Asmita’s case, the death of the victim prompted police to intensify the search for men who targeted the 28-year-old. A senior police officer claimed that three youths had been nabbed three days after Asmita’s death.

None of the three suspects, he said, had any earlier history of crime, implying Asmita might have been targeted in a spur of the moment by the men.

One of nabbed accused is a juvenile.