Mysore cops honour 4 bravehearts

MYSORE: Mysore city police on Monday honoured four youths for their bravery in nabbing a chain snatcher. The arrest led the cops to solve 15 cases reported between 2007 and 2012.
The young heroes of Mysore -- Yashas Urs, 19, a II journalism student from Maharaja's College, Manu Kumar, 20, driver, S Dileep, 25, cattle rearer, and Thejus, 17, ITI student -- were presented appreciation certificates and a cash reward of Rs 2,000 each by commissioner of police K L Sudheer.
The foursome had swung into action soon after Deepti, an MBA graduate, was robbed of her gold chain in Kuvempunagar on the night of March 20. Their reflex to her SOS call ended in the arrest of R Manjunath, 30, the accused who was driving an auto rickshaw, albeit after a brief chase on their two-wheelers.
Manu and Dileep, who witnessed Manjunath robbing the girl, went to her rescue at 8.30pm. When they were chasing the rickshaw, Yashas and his brother Thejus too joined them, and they together intercepted the accused after a km-long chase. Manjunath was later handed over to Kuvempunagar police, who in turn arrested another accused S Raghu, 23, also an auto driver.
Yashas said he feels strong about such chain snatching incidents reported in the media. "I'm feeling extremely happy about my effort," Yashas said.
An increase in the number of chain snatchings in the city has given sleepless nights to the men in khaki. But the arrest of Manjunath and Raghu, residents of Vidyaranyapuram, has made the locals breathe easy.
Inspector K N Yashwanth said the driver-duo was active since 2007 and was involved in 15 chain snatching cases -- two each in Krishna Raja and Saraswathipuram police limits, three in Vidyaranyapuram police jurisdiction and eight in Kuvempunagar police station limits.
Explaining their modus operandi, inspector said the duo used to do a quick reccee before robbing women of their gold chains. Often, they operated together. Chains worth Rs 6.31 lakh have been recovered from them, Yashwanth stated.
Commissioner Sudheer said the duo took to crime to finance their habits and to make a fast buck. Soon after the crime, they used to pledge the stolen chains with pawn brokers in the city. The police will now investigate the role of pawn brokers in the crime. If they are found to be aware of the crime, they too will be booked.