CHENNAI: A policewoman attached to the Greater Chennai Police became the victim of chain snatching at Pazhavanthangal railway station on Saturday night. However, the public chased and got hold of the suspect, and handed him over to the Railway police.
The woman cop was identified as Barani (25), attached to the intelligence section at the city police commissionerate.
Barani usually boards a suburban train from Egmore railway station and gets down at the Pazhavanthangal railway station, from where she would walk towards her house. The incident happened on Saturday when she got down at the station close to midnight.
Sources said the constable was walking on the platform when the suspect who was trailing her took her by surprise and snatched the gold chain from her neck. The policewoman managed to hold one end of the chain and resisted, but the suspect took to his heels with the broken part from the chain.
Hearing her call for help, other passengers who were on the platform chased and managed to catch the suspect. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at the railway station questioned the suspect, who was identified as Sathyan alias Sathya Balan (40) of Chitlapakkam.
He was handed over to the Government Railway Police (Mambalam), who arrested him and conducted investigations to find out if he was involved in similar crimes at railway stations.