Solicitor General of India’s wife targeted by snatchers at Mandi House

Aparna Mehta was walking, with phone in hand, outside the Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) building when two motorcycle-borne men snatched her phone and fled.

Wife of the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta fell victim to mobile phone snatchers in central Delhi’s Mandi House on Sunday night, said police.

Wife of the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta fell victim to mobile phone snatchers in central Delhi’s Mandi House on Sunday night, said police. (Burhaan Kinu / Hindustan Times (Representative image))

Aparna Mehta was walking, with phone in hand, outside the Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) building when two motorcycle-borne men snatched her phone and fled.

“We have registered a first information report (FIR) at the Barakhamba police station, but are yet to crack the case,” said Eish Singhal, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi district).

The Indian Penal Code sections under which the case has been registered are 379 (theft), 356 (assault while committing theft) and 34 (crime committed by many persons with a common intention). If caught and convicted for theft, the culprits could land in jail for up to three years or even be let off with just a fine.

Aparna and her husband live on Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane near Kasturba Gandhi Marg, about a kilometre from the spot where she was targeted.

While the Tushars refused to comment on the incident, Aparna’s statement to police read that she was taking a walk around 8.15 pm on Sunday when two men on a motorcycle snatched her Samsung phone from her hand.

“The miscreants were on an unknown motorcycle and I cannot identify either them or their vehicle,” she told the police. Aparna was physically unharmed in the crime.

Another senior police officer said that the spot where Aparna was targeted is not covered by surveillance cameras. “It is an unlit spot, but we are looking for cameras installed in all possible escape routes. We suspect that the snatchers followed the victim till a place that was dark,” said the investigator.

Crime-prone

97% of those arrested for snatching last year were first-timers; 55% were either illiterate or school dropouts

The annual crime data shows there are over 8,000 snatching cases every year in the national Capital.

Only 56% of the snatching cases were solved last year.