delhi

Updated: Dec 27, 2017 23:52 IST

A 28-year-old woman fell off an auto-rickshaw and sustained multiple injuries while resisting two bike-borne snatchers in east Delhi on Monday. Both the snatchers have been arrested with one of them being nabbed from the spot.

According to the police, the snatchers targeted the woman — identified as Ruchika Jajoo — when she was on her way back after watching her husband play in a voleyball tournament in Shahdara.

However, unlike most similar cases, the snatchers on Monday couldn’t flee as their motorcycle skid immediately after the robbery. Ruchika’s sisters-in-law, who were travelling with her in the auto, chased and pinned down one of the snatchers. The other man was arrested by the police later.

Ruchika was the latest victim in a string of snatchings witnessed in Delhi, in which women travelling in auto-rickshaws, trains are targeted. This modus operandi has left nearly 12 women injured in the last one year with at least two of them succumbing to their wounds later.

Ruchika, police said, lived with her husband, Harish, in East Azad Nagar in Shahdara. Her husband is a garments trader in Gandhi Nagar and a volleyball enthusiast.

“On Monday, I had participated in a volleyball tournament being held at Shyam Lal College, Shahdara. My wife and two sisters, Sonia and Radhika, had come to watch me play. After the match, they decided to visit Bahubali Park in Anand Vihar,” Harish told HT.

The women had hired an auto-rickshaw and Ruchika was seated on the left end of the seat. The two bike-borne men targeted the auto near a gurdwara in Anand Vihar’s A-Block around 4.15pm, police said.

“The pillion rider lunged at and tried to snatch my bag. But I held on to it. The man did not let go of the bag either and in the ensuing tug-of-war, I lost balance, had to let go of the bag and fell out of the running auto,” Ruchika alleged. Ruchika fell on the road and injured her limbs.

The robbers, meanwhile, tried to take a U-turn at a cut in the road just metres ahead, but their motorcycle skid and they fell. “The pillion rider was quick to recover. He picked up the robbed bag and fled the spot, abandoning his partner and their motorcycle,” Ruchika said.

But before the rider could recover, Ruchika’s two sisters-in-law sprinted towards him and tried to pin him down. “The man who was left behind tried to assault my sisters in his bid to escape. But the managed to pin him down with the help of some passersby,” added Harish.

The nabbed snatcher, identified as 28-year-old Mohd Sajid, was thrashed by locals before being handed over to the police. Ruchika, meanwhile, was rushed to a hospital where she was treated for her injuries. She is out of danger.

“Sajid was found to be involved in 20 crimes. His associate, Wasim, too was caught later. Wasim had earlier been booked for four crimes. All the snatched items have been recovered,” Nupur Prasad, DCP (Shahdara), told HT. For their latest crime, Sajid and Wasim have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 394 for causing hurt while committing robbery.