Bhubaneswar, Nov. 1: A burgeoning breed of brazen criminals, which is striking during the day, are giving sleepless nights to city residents.
Concerned about their safety, Kalinga Vihar residents today met deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nitinjit Singh at his Saheed Nagar office to apprise him of the rising criminal activities in their area.
“We explained our problems to the DCP. He said lack of police personnel restricts them from intensifying patrolling. He assured us of a personal visit on Sunday to hold a discussion with the association members to start community policing in our area,” said president of Kalinga Vihar Residents’ Welfare Association, Sishir Kumar Das. He added that Singh had also assured them of arresting the criminals within a fortnight.
Das attributed lack of police patrolling for increase in crime during the day. The residents said the criminals used to strike at night or targeted houses when the occupants were away. But these days, they were becoming bolder and committing crime during the day.
Yesterday, three goons entered the house of Nirmala Sahoo, 45, around 8am. When she shouted for help, they attacked her with daggers and showed her a pistol. “I suffered injuries on my head and left hand. They snatched my gold necklace before the neighbours could arrive,” said Sahoo, whose husband works in the National Security Guard.
Through community policing, the local residents will deploy some security guards while the police would send some of their men to conduct joint patrol in the residential area. Apart from Kalinga Vihar, criminals have been operating in several areas including the high security central area. Generally, it is the chain snatchers that are most active and target women riding motorcycles.
Last evening, a woman and her daughter fell off their two-wheeler, when two motorcycle-borne youths unsuccessfully tried to snatch the gold chain from the woman’s neck at IDBI Square on Janpath. The duo was lucky to escape with minor injuries.
Two days ago, a 52-year-old woman was severely injured when two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her gold chain. Sarada Devi Agrawal, the victim, was taking a stroll with her husband and daughter in the IRC Village area when the incident took place. Agrawal fell down and was dragged till a certain distance before the snatchers succeeded in taking the chain away.
“We have launched a man hunt to arrest the accused. Besides we are interrogating the known chain snatchers in the area,” said inspector in-charge of Nayapalli police station Anup Kanungo.
The city police had taken around 25 snatchers and burglars into preventive custody before Durga Puja.
“Every year during Puja, known criminals, who are out on bail, are taken into custody to prevent crimes,” said a senior police officer. However, several chain snatching cases were still reported in the last week from different parts of the city.
Despite the police’s claims that several steps were being taken to curb chain snatching in the city, such incidents continue to create panic among the women.
On October 26 evening, Kalayani Sahu of Unit-VIII and her husband sustained injuries after falling off their two-wheeler when two criminals snatched Sahu’s gold chain right in front of the office of the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack commissionerate police. The Kharvel Nagar police are yet to arrest the culprits.
Another such snatching incident was reported from Shree Vihar area under Chandrasekharpur police station on October 25 in which the victim was attacked with sharp weapons but was lucky to escape with minor injuries.
During Dusshera, many women devotees were spotted moving around the city without much gold jewellery. Before the festive season, the police had issued a set of instructions to the people, which included avoiding gold jewellery.
“I had to wear a fake gold necklace during Durga Puja so that there would not be any fear of losing it while venturing out. With rising gold prices, middle class women like me cannot afford to lose any piece of jewellery,” said Smita Sahani, a resident of VSS Nagar.
