Bhubaneswar, Nov. 7: In an incident straight out of a Bollywood movie script, residents chased two motorcycle-borne criminals, beat them up and then handed them over to police.

Smitarani Mohapatra, 35, a homemaker, was on her way towards Governor House Square on a motorcycle with her husband when two bike-borne youths snatched her gold chain weighing 10 grams while passing by their two-wheeler.

'The goons sped away but I followed them and also raised an alarm,' said Pratap Ray, Smitarani's husband, who works with theCentral Reserve Police Force here.

When they were chasing the goons, their cry for help attracted the attention of another fellow rider.

The couple got timely help from Chandan Paikaray, who also gave the snatchers a chase on his motorcycle and finally caught one of them.

The other one was overpowered by a mob.

'They were speeding away towards Gopabandhu Square but another car applied its brake at the roundabout and I hit their bike with mine. The one who was pillion riding tried to escape, however, I managed to catch hold of the driver,' said Paikaray.

Residents quickly overpowered the other goon, who was trying to run away. He was beaten up by the mob. They were later taken to the Capital Hospital with minor injuries. The accused have been identified as Ghanashyam alias Bhagabat Patra, 21, and Pratap Sahu, 22.

The police have also seized their motorcycle that did not have any registration number.

'Investigation is on to ascertain their antecedents,' said inspector in-charge of Capital police station M.R. Garanaik.

In a similar incident, onMay 7,residents had thrashed a criminal when he tried to escape after snatching a gold chain from a woman near Fire Station Square.

Residents blamed police inaction for a rise in such petty crimes in the city. 'Snatching incidents are frequently taking place in the city. The cops are expected to remain alert, but their lacklustre attitude is giving the goons a free run. Therefore people are being forced to take law into their hands,' said Ratnakar Bag, a resident of Chandrasekharpur.

In another incident, tension prevailed at Mancheswar Industrial Estate after hundreds of aspirant gheraoed a job firm for allegedly cheating them.

The job seekers alleged that Ramakrushna Trust had taken Rs 25,000 from each of them and promised them jobs of supervisors and health workers in the rural areas of the state.

'The agency had published advertisements in various vernacular dailies announcing vacancy of 800 posts. It also took a security deposit of Rs 25,000 from each aspirant. Later the agency employed us to do a survey for three months and promised us Rs 1,000 a month. However, it not only refused to pay us for the survey work, it also denied to return our security money,' said Gitanjali Parida.

A complaint in this regard has been registered with the Mancheswar police station.