Fleeing chain snatchers caught, thrashed by public

Two chain snatchers, who were attempting to flee after robbing a school headmistress of her chain, were caught by the people and thrashed on Tuesday. They sustained severe cut injuries when the enraged people snatched the knives they were carrying and attacked them. Police arrested them and admitted them to the Tiruchy GH.

Police identified the duo as Raja (27) of Cuddalore, a murder accused out on bail, and Marimuthu (24) of Keezha Pandamangalam in Palakkarai, Tiruchy, an accused in a rape case. The twain, on a motorcycle, targetted M Amudhavalli (41), HM of Kadambakudi Panchayat Union Primary School, when she was travelling on a two-wheeler with her colleague Lourdu Mary, of Thanjavur. They deliberately hit their two-wheeler from behind and, taking advantage of the distraction, snatched Amudhavalli’s eight-sovereign chain before riding off towards Tiruchy.

However, the HM soon gathered herself and alerted her relatives in Tiruverumbur and gave them a proper description of the duo. The robbers, meanwhile, were noticed fleeing towards Tiruverumbur on their bike.

The alert public gave them a chase. They were intercepted by labourers working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme at Chettiyarpatti near Pathalapettai.

The chain snatchers abandoned their vehicle and hid behind bushes to save themselves from the irate public. However, the people set fire to the bushes forcing the duo to come out into the open.

However, they took out long sharp knives to threaten the villagers. As the people went close to them to nab them, one of the robbers attacked a villager inflicting injuries on him. Enraged, the entire crowd of villagers swooped down on the duo and began assaulting them, their knives becoming weapons for the public.

The chain snatchers sustained severe cut injuries on their hands. Subsequently, villagers handed the duo over to the police.