Chandigarh, August 24: In the third incident of its kind near the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in the past two months, a cancer patient was robbed of her gold bangles by a group of women snatchers on Saturday afternoon.
The victim, Sunita, a resident of Rapauli village in Yamunanagar, had travelled with her husband for her routine three-weekly consultation. After learning that her appointment was rescheduled for Monday, the couple headed toward the OPD gate to catch a bus to Nayagaon around 2:15 p.m.
According to Sunita, two to three women blocked their way at the front gate of the bus. When the conductor asked them to move aside, they reluctantly stepped back. “Moments later, I realised my two gold bangles were missing. I immediately raised the alarm, but before I could react, one of them fled towards the OPD gate in an auto-rickshaw. She was wearing pink-and-white coloured clothes and had light brown-dyed hair. I can recognise her if she comes in front of me,” Sunita said in her statement.
The theft left the patient visibly shaken. “I come here every 21 days for my treatment. Today, not only was my appointment postponed, I also lost my bangles. Please help me get them back,” she pleaded in her complaint.
Police registered a case at the Sector 11 police station under Sections 303(2) (punishment for theft) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
A senior police official said surveillance around PGIMER had been increased after a series of such crimes. Plainclothes personnel have been deployed near hotspots, particularly along the dividing road between Sector 11 and Punjab Engineering College.
Investigators suspect a women-led gang operating out of Punjab may be behind the spate of incidents. “Earlier, a woman from Morinda was arrested in connection with a similar case, and multiple raids were conducted in Punjab to trace her accomplices,” the official said. “The gang members frequently travel to and fro from Chandigarh to execute such crimes.”
