Students try to snatch a chain to pay off their online debt

The Nandini layout Police on Thursday arrested two students, including a student from a reputable college, for trying to snatch a gold chain from an elderly woman in Nandini Layout for debts they incurred online.

The defendants are in their 20s and classmates in their final year of B.Com at North Bengaluru College.

According to the police, the accused invested Rs 15,000 in online trading applications and suffered losses. They then borrowed loans from lending apps to repay the money and were short of Rs 5,000. In order to fix this, the duo decided to snatch a gold chain from a random woman.

In accordance with the plan, they targeted Gayatri KT (65), a resident of BHEL Officers Colony, as she returned home from a morning walk in the nearby park.

Gayathri passed by a boy and a girl by a parked scooter. As she walked, the girl followed her and threw chili powder in her face and eyes and tried to rip off her chain.

Gayathri did not give up even though his eyes and face were burning; she held the chain tightly, which made it difficult for the girl to pull it off. Meanwhile, a biker was heading towards the place. The girl left Gayathri and escaped on the scooter in which her friend was waiting for her.

Gayathri then went home, washed herself and filed a complaint with the Nandini Layout police. A case under IPC section 393 (attempted theft) was recorded. The police focused on the duo with the help of CCTV image analysis and identification of the two-wheeler used in the crime.

The duo confessed and informed the police of their debts.

They said they had searched the internet for how to make money fast. One of the options they found was chain snatching.