Delhi woman dragged along road by scooter as she catches hold of phone snatcher

New Delhi, December 17

A hospital staffer was injured after she was dragged along a road by a scooter when she caught hold of a man who snatched her mobile phone at a traffic signal here, police said on Friday.

Though the snatchers escaped, police after examining CCTV camera footage identified and apprehended one of them, a senior officer said.

The man, who has been apprehended, was riding pillion. It was his jacket that the woman had grabbed and was dragged around 100 metres, before she fell near a car, police said.

The incident took place around 5.30 pm on Thursday in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, when Payal, a 23-year-old front office assistant at Fortis Hospital, was returning home from work, they said.

Bystanders took her to the hospital where she was treated for injuries to her knees. She was discharged on Thursday, police said.

Information about the snatching was received by the Shalimar Bagh police station around 6.40 pm on Thursday, and teams were formed to apprehend the suspects, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Usha Rangnani said the man riding the scooter had also been identified and police teams were searching for him.

This year, the northwest district had arrested or apprehended 470 snatchers and 357 robbers of which 89 had been arrested or apprehended by the Shalimar Bagh police station, police said.

Rangnani said a case under Sections 392 (punishment for robbery) and 34 (common intension) of the IPC had been registered at the Shalimar Bagh police station.

A video of the snatching has gone viral on social media. PTI