Agartala, Sep 15 (IANS) In a bizarre development, a professional thief, accused of stealing a motorcycle and snatching a gold chain from an elderly woman, allegedly cut his own hand to evade arrest and got himself admitted to a hospital, but police eventually apprehended him from his hospital bed on Tuesday, officials said.
Two bike-borne thieves snatched a gold necklace, valued at Rs 1.75 lakh, from an elderly woman in the Bankumari area on the outskirts of Agartala city on September 11.
The incident took place early in the morning on September 11 when the elderly woman, Gita Rani Das (Deb), was out for a morning walk with a neighbour in the Bankumari area. She later lodged a complaint with the East Agartala police station, following which an investigation was launched.
Police, led by Officer-in-Charge of the East Agartala police station, Krishnadhan Sarkar, launched an intensive investigation to nab the thieves. Police had earlier detained one of the thieves and impounded the motorcycle allegedly used in the broad-daylight snatching of the gold chain. The motorcycle had also allegedly been stolen by the duo earlier.
However, the alleged mastermind of the crime was still at large. Police examined CCTV footage from the area, which showed two helmet-wearing persons riding a motorcycle and allegedly snatching the woman’s necklace.
Acting on information gathered during the investigation, a police team led by Sarkar, an inspector-rank police official, conducted search operations at several places in and around the state capital. Finally, the alleged mastermind of the crime was arrested from the Agartala Government Medical College and Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, where he had got himself admitted after reportedly cutting his right hand to evade arrest.
The main accused in the case had allegedly sold the stolen necklace at a jewellery shop in Agartala.
A series of gold chain-snatching incidents have taken place in various districts of Tripura in recent months. Recently, two youths from Bihar were arrested for allegedly snatching a gold chain from an elderly woman in West Tripura district.
According to police, the two accused entered the house of Radha Rani Debbarma on the pretext of cleaning utensils when no male member of the family was present. The duo allegedly snatched a gold chain from the woman and fled on a motorcycle, police said.
In another incident, two women were arrested and nine stolen gold chains worth around Rs 22 lakh were recovered following a series of chain-snatching incidents during the Rath Yatra festival in southern Tripura’s Gomati district, police officials said.
The thefts took place during the annual Rath Yatra at the historic Jagannath Bari in Udaipur, which drew a large number of devotees.
