14 November,2014 11:10 AM IST | | Shirish Vaktania
The media professional had successfully prevented the two robbers from snatching her purse, but they had managed to steal her phone; an informer tipped off the cops when they tried to sell the stolen phone
Days after two men robbed a young media professional in Vikhroli and stole her phone, the police arrested them and recovered the phone. The Parksite police station was handling the case.
mid-day's report on November 11
The accused have been identified as Nazim Sheikh and Azar Sheikh (both 29). mid-day had reported on November 11 how the woman, Esha Singh (24), a digital media professional, had been looking for an auto rickshaw in Vikhroli (West) after coming out of a restaurant around 7 pm on November 2. She was on Kailash Complex road, talking on the phone, when two men on a motorcycle followed her. One of them got down, grabbed her phone and pushed her.
The woman fell on her nose and injured herself. The duo then tried to snatch her purse, full of cash and valuables, and in the scuffle the woman fell on her head and started bleeding. But, she bravely fought for the bag and fended off the robbers, who managed to flee the spot on their bike with her mobile phone.
Lucky arrest
Singh had lodged a complaint with the police on November 2 and had been treated at the nearby Hiranandani Hospital, where she received five stitches to her head. Police didn't have very high hopes of nabbing the accused, since there were no CCTV cameras in the area.
A police officer said, "We got a tip-off from an informer that two people were coming to sell a stolen phone. We laid a trap and nabbed them. Surprisingly, they turned out to be the same robbers who had stolen Singh's phone."
The accused were arrested on Wednesday from Andheri and police officials said that both have a criminal past and have been accused in chain snatching cases. Officials have managed to recover the woman's mobile phone and also the Honda motorcycle on which they had accosted her.
Senior Police Inspector Suresh Sakpal of Parksite police station said, "We are lucky that that we nabbed the same accused who stole Singh's mobile phone. The accused are in police custody."
The victim, Singh, told mid-day, "I am very thankful to the police for helping me, and the media for supporting me.
The accused should be given severe punishment so that they don't dare to do this to anyone in the future."
