Bhubaneswar, July 4: Incidents of chain snatching continue to take place despite attempts by the police to curb such crimes.

Last evening, two motorcycle-borne youths snatched the gold chain of a woman at the Bapuji Nagar market. The woman was injured in the scuffle. The woman was identified as Arati Sahu, 40, from the Old Town area. Arati is wife of an employee of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

Eyewitnesses said the woman was driving her two-wheeler in the market, when two youths wearing helmets came on a motorcycle and tried to snatch her gold chain. The woman’s daughter was also riding pillion.

When the goons snatched Arati’s necklace, both the mother and her daughter fell down from the two-wheeler. The criminals then snatched away the chain and fled from the spot in no time.

In the scuffle, the woman sustained injuries in her legs, left hand and neck. Her daughter admitted her to municipality hospital in the Old Town area. Later, the woman’s husband lodged a complaint with the capital police. The police said they had registered a case and were looking for the criminals. “We are investigating into the matter and have launched a hunt to arrest the goons,” said a police officer.

Two days ago on July 2, four robbers, led by criminal Arabinda Mallick alias Aru, were arrested from the campus of a government primary school in the Unit VI area while they were preparing to commit a robbery.

The police had seized one country-made single-shot pistol and one dagger from them.

The police said the criminals had been involved in several burglary, dacoity, robbery and snatching cases in and around the city. Moreover, in the last two weeks, several gangs of chain snatchers, including some goldsmiths, had been arrested. The police also had encountered a criminal, who used to snatch gold chains from women by attacking them with dagger.

The police said the criminal, Abinash Lenka, had sustained injuries following and encounter at Gangua bridge on July 1. A senior police officer said the city police have adopted some precautionary steps such as, intensifying patrolling during morning and evening hours.

However, the snatchers, in order to defy the moves, had started resorting to different other methods, said the police officer. “They are now targeting women in the late evening and during other times of the day,” said the officer.