Bhopal News: Loot & Scoot; This Festive Season, Bikers On Snatching Spree

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As the city is in a festive mood and markets are witnessing huge crowds every evening, bike-borne miscreants are taking advantage of the rush to carry out snatchings and loot across the capital.

Starting this month, as many as 13 cases of snatchings of gold chains, mobiles, purses, etc have been reported from different police station areas. While the police have registered cases and begun investigations, few of the accused have been apprehended so far.

Criminals are targeting women and pedestrians in busy market areas, managing to escape within seconds after committing the crime on high-speed bikes.

In an incident this Monday morning in the Bagsewania area, Bachla Bai (85), a resident of Asaram Nagar, was taking a walk outside her home when two men on a motorcycle approached her and snatched a gold chain from her neck before fleeing.

In an incident in the Piplani area, two miscreants on a bike snatched student Rishabh Sharma’s mobile phone near a dairy on Sunday evening. On October 8, bike-borne miscreants looted a gold chain from homemaker Priya Jain in the Kolar area.

In another case under the Habibganj police station on October 9, Sunita (35), a daily-wage worker with the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, was on her way to pick up her child from school when two bikers snatched her mobile phone and escaped.

In another case from Gautam Nagar, a woman named Santoshi was heading to her workplace at a mallin an e-rickshaw when two bikers grabbed her mobile phone and fled.

Incidents across police zones

Reports of similar snatchings have come from Gautam Nagar, Piplani, Bagsewania, Habibganj, Kolar, MP Nagar, Arera Hills, and Katara Hills police station areas, among others. In total, 13 snatchings have been recorded across 13 police station limits. Despite ongoing investigations, the accused in nearly all cases remain unidentified. Areas such as Kohefiza, Misrod, Kolar, Bagsevania, and Habibganj have witnessed repeated incidents of looting in recent weeks.

Police Commissioner Harinarayanchari Mishra said that police teams are taking action. Several gangs involved in snatching and motorcycle theft have already been busted, and many accused have been arrested. During the festive season, additional police teams are deployed in market areas to prevent such incidents, he added.