28-year-old woman falls from auto fighting snatchers, dies

NEW DELHI :A 28-year-old woman, who had fallen off an auto while trying to save her bag from snatchers, succumbed to her injuries after battling for her life at the AIIMS trauma centre for 12 days .

Police said the victim, Asmita, a native of Manipur, lived with her friends in south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur.

She was taking cookery classes at a Gurgaon-based institute.

On August 8, Asmita had visited a friend’s home in nearby Chirag Delhi before she decided to travel to Connaught Place. So, she hired an auto to Hauz Khas metro station.

She was on the Panchsheel Marg, barely a kilometre from the Metro station, when three motorcycle-borne snatchers struck. They went for her handbag that contained the woman’s mobile phone, identity cards, cash cards and some money. “But Asmita decided to fight bag and pulled back at her bag. Since the snatchers were unwilling to let go, a tug of war ensued. In the tussle, the victim lost her balance and fell down from the running auto,” said a senior police officer.

But, the snatchers didn’t give up even after the victim fell down from the auto.

With Asmita still unwilling to let go of the bag after falling, the snatchers dragged her for several metres before they actually let go of the bag and were forced to flee the spot.

Asmita did managed to retain her bag, but suffered severe injuries to her head and other body parts in the process. She was taken to AIIMS trauma centre where she battled for her life before finally breathing her last on August 21. While snatchers leaving people injured in the city is quite a common sight in the city, a death in due to a street crime is quite a rare occurrence.

Incidentally, another 43-yearold woman had died on September 3 this month after she was hit by a running train, while trying to save her bag from a snatcher near Old Delhi railway station.

In Asmita’s case, the death of the victim prompted police to intensify the search for men who targeted the 28-year-old.

A senior police officer claimed that three youths had been nabbed three days after Asmita’s death.none of the three suspects had any history of crime, implying Asmita might have been targeted in a spur of the moment by the men.

One of accused is a minor.