Teenage girls awarded for bravery

LUCKNOW: Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Lucknow Akhil on Saturday awarded appreciation certificates to two teenaged girls for their exemplary courage and help which enabled the Gomtinagar police to bust a gang of chain-snatchers. One of the two fell prey to the gang but putting up a brave front, she managed to over-power one of the miscreants with the help of her niece.
On December 14, Kanchan Dewan and her niece Shivangi Singh were passing from Gomtinagar area when two miscreants riding a motorcycle closed in on them and laid their hands on the gold earrings of Kanchan.After a brief scuffle, the miscreants managed to snatch an earing of Kanchan and fled away. Putting up a brave front both Kanchan and Shivangi maintained their cool and begged a ride from a passing vehicle to chase the miscreants. They managed to zero in on them and grabbed the miscreant riding the pillion pulling him off the motorcycle.
The brave duo managed to over-power the lone miscreant whose companion ran away. The girls then informed the police. But by the time the cops could arrive at the scene, the miscreant managed to forcibly free himself and flee. In the scuffle, however, he left behind a significant clue which the police used to bust the gang on Saturday when police arrested three members of the gang and recovered stolen gold chains and earrings from them.
The arrested accused were identified as Prabhat Pandey, Ashutosh Kumar and Nandan Tewari - all neighbours residing in E block area of Vinay Khand in Gomtinagar. The accused hail from lower middle class families with their parents working as fourth class employees in different departments of the government. All the arrested accused are school dropouts.