Fit-at-45 ACP bolts after snatcher in Ludhiana, recovers Rs 1.3 lakh

Fit at 45, assistant commissioner of police (south) Sandeep Wadhera raced a kilometre through a crowded Feroze Gandhi Market here on Tuesday to catch a snatcher and recover a woman’s bag containing Rs 1.37 lakh cash.

Fit at 45, assistant commissioner of police (south) Sandeep Wadhera raced a kilometre through a crowded Feroze Gandhi Market here on Tuesday to catch a snatcher and recover a woman’s bag containing Rs 1.37 lakh cash.

ACP Sandeep Wadhera (HT Photo)

Around 11am, gas-agency employee Deepika had come to the market to deposit this money in a bank. As she parked her scooter outside, two men tried to grab her bag. She fought for it until its handle came off and she lost it to one of the miscreants.

At her raising the alarm, ACP Wadhera, who was crossing the market with his gunman, spotted the fleeing snatcher, jumped off his vehicle, and sprinted after the man. The officer was in his uniform.

After 600-odd metres of pursuit on foot, he borrowed a passerby’s motorcycle to go after the thief. He grabbed him and his gunman also got there in his official vehicle. “We then called the police station concerned,” said the ACP.

The accused in police custody on Tuesday.

The market is always crowded and chasing anyone through it is a difficult hurdle race. “The area is not in my jurisdiction,” Wadhera said. “But as a police officer, I can’t let a criminal escape.” A chase sequence from the movies. And said like a hero.