Woman plays harassment card to rob elders

The accused has been identified as Asha, who hails from Lingapuram in Bengaluru. According to police, Asha’s modus operandi is to waylay the elderly men and woman walking alone on the road. “She used to engage in a casual conversation and then demand money from victims. She would threaten them saying if they failed to handover, she would raise a cry and make allegations of sexual abuse,” said a police official, who was part of the team that arrested her. 

A special team was formed to nab Asha after similar complaints of extortion were registered at Pondy Bazaar, Kodambakkam and Virugambakkam. While she snatched a four sovereign gold chain from an elderly man at Pondy Bazaar, another woman lost her five sovereign chain to Asha. Based on the CCTV footage available, police had zeroed in a woman riding an Activa scooter with Karnataka registration number. Vadapalani police, who got an alert that the scooter was spotted in the locality, traced Asha and arrested her on Tuesday. Nineteen sovereigns of gold ornaments and the two-wheeler have been seized from her and she has been remanded in judicial custody. This is probably the first time police have come across a bike-borne woman thief. 

According to police, Asha has cases pending against her in Bengaluru as well. After her husband died a few months ago, she reached Chennai on her two-wheeler, and rented a room in Arumbakkam, from where she operated.