Coimbatore: When he heard a knock on the door at 3 a.m. on Friday, 65-year-old Zohra had no reason to think that some miscreant must be waiting outside the house at NP Iteri near Podanur in the city. Half-sleep he opened the door and in a moment a man wearing a raincoat, gloves and a face mask snatched his two gold chains weighing 11 sovereigns and fled.
The city police have formed two special teams to nab the chain snatcher, whose identity is yet to be ascertained.
An official said Zohra, her 71-year-old husband Bakruddin and son Firoz Khan were sleeping when they heard a knock on the door. “The couple made a brief chase, but in vain. We have collected CCTV footage from another house. Visuals showed the chain snatcher sitting outside the house for five minutes before knocking on the main door. While earlier there was a main gate, Johra removed it to facilitate underground drainage and road laying work in the area,” the official said.
Salim, one of her four sons, said that her mother is deeply saddened by the death of her daughter, who succumbed to Covid-19 for the past two months. “My mother thought it was one of her sons who was knocking on the door. So, he opened it. Most of the people of the area work in the fish market and they go to the market from around 2.30 am to 3 pm. The fish market was not running on Friday. So, the chain snatcher knew all the details,” he said.
Salim alerted the Podanur police, which registered a case under section 392 (dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code and launched an investigation. “We have formed two special teams to nab the chain snatcher. Our teams are working from different angles,” said city deputy commissioner of police (crime) ES Uma.
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