The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bag snatching cases on the rise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bag snatching cases on the rise

Admitting that such incidents are on the rise, the police have formed two teams to trace the culprits, writes K.V. Subramanya

INCIDENTS OF conmen diverting the attention of the public and making away with their bags containing cash and valuables have been on the rise in the city.

Though such incidents are frequently occurring in various parts of the city, the police have not arrested the culprits in most of the cases. People coming out of banks after withdrawing money have been the victims in a majority of the cases.

In one such incident on Friday, a youth diverted the attention of a businessman by telling him that his clothes had been soiled and snatched his bag containing Rs. 55,000 in cash in Peenya police station limits. The businessman, Manoj, was returning to his shop after withdrawing the money from Vijaya Bank's branch at T. Dasarahalli.

In a similar incident on March 17, two men diverted the attention of a cloth merchant and robbed him of a bag containing Rs. 60,000 in cash in Chickpet. When Mukesh Jain was speaking on his mobile phone, two persons came to him and told him that there were bloodstains on the rear seat of his van. When Mukesh was trying to clean the stains with a piece of cloth, they made away with the cash bag kept in the vehicle.

Conmen have been adopting different tricks to divert the attention of the public.

For instance, on February 4, Prasad Kumar was driving in his car to his New Thippasandra house after withdrawing Rs. 3.50 lakhs from Karnataka Bank's Indiranagar branch when two youths, who came on a motorcycle, stopped him on Suranjandas Road saying that oil was leaking from his vehicle.

When Kumar got down from his vehicle and was checking the fuel tank, the two youths made away with the cash bag that was in the car. Motorcycle-borne youths relieved Behanji and Sandhya Reddy of their cash bags in Madivala and Basavanagudi police station limits in December last year.

In another incident on December 5, Ijaz, an employee of Kundan Electronics, was walking towards UTI Bank at Bommanahalli Circle to deposit Rs. 1.50 lakh. A man pretended to vomit on Ijaz, diverted his attention and snatched the cash bag from him.

On January 6, a youth diverted the attention of the car driver of a transport company's managing director and made away with a briefcase containing Rs. 2.20 lakhs in cash. Noorullah Khan, managing director of a private transport company, got down from his car on Palace Road and went to a mosque. When Khan's driver Moula was in the car, a youth came to him and told him that some currency notes were lying near the vehicle.

When Moula got down from the vehicle and started picking the notes, the youth made away with brief case that was in the car. In the most sensational of such cases, the K.R. Puram police on December 9 last year arrested a 60-year-old woman and her four accomplices, all women, who had allegedly stolen a bag containing Rs. 10 lakhs in cash from Syndicate Bank's K.R. Puram branch.

According to the police, the arrested women were part of a 40-member gang from Malur that stole money from various banks across the State after diverting the attention of the customers. The Mandya West police recently arrested 10 members of the gang.

Admitting that such incidents are on the rise, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) M.C. Narayana Gowda said Deputy Commissioners of Police of the five divisions in the city have jointly formed two teams to trace the conmen.

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