Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Chain snatching at Tambaram

Staff Reporter

Thief makes good his escape in the evening rush hour

TAMBARAM : In a daring crime, an unidentified man snatched a gold chain from a woman waiting at one of the platforms at the Tambaram railway station on Monday evening, even as security personnel were present in full strength. Sources said the woman, Revathy, was waiting at platform No. 6 to board a suburban electric train. As the electric train was arriving at the platform, a youth pounced on her, and snatched the chain weighing three sovereigns. He then ran into a compartment of a stationary express train on the adjacent platform, jumped out of it and disappeared into the crowd.

The woman raised an alarm, but there was no sign of the culprit. The incident took place around 8 p.m, when the movement of commuters and long-distance and suburban trains is at its peak. Armed personnel from the Railway Protection Force apart from the Government Railway Police patrol the railway station throughout the day and the chain snatching has caused a great deal of concern to commuters who pass through this important hub everyday.

The additional security measures at Tambaram taken up soon after the recent Mumbai blasts are still in place and have not been withdrawn. The incident is not an isolated one as similar offences have been reported in the recent past.

The modus operandi of culprits is to get into compartments of metre gauge trains as they arrive at the platforms. Some commuters board their compartments before the lights are switched on and criminals operate swiftly, taking whatever they can. Sources said adequate steps were not being taken to monitor the movement of criminals. Police and security sources, while admitting that crimes do take place at the station, denied any security lapse.

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