Approx 700 policemen and 200 CCTV recordings, that's what it took to solve a high-profile snatching in New Delhi the victim of which was PM Narendra Modi's niece Damayanti Ben Modi. Damayanti Ben was mugged outside the Gujarati Samaj Bhawan in New Delhi's Civil Lines area. Two men on a two-wheeled snatched her purse while she was getting off an auto-rickshaw. The purse contained around Rs 56,000 in case, a wristwatch, two mobile phones and important documents.
The snatching, which took place early Saturday morning, was just the latest in a series of similar crimes reported in the national capital. Until September 30 this year, 4,762 incidents of snatching have been reported from Delhi.
However, the high-profile nature of Saturday's snatching incident prompted a massive police response. Around 700 personnel of the Delhi Police were employed in the probe to identify and trace the two men who snatched Damayanti Ben's purse.
The policemen combed through around 200 recordings from CCTV cameras in the area. The Delhi Police was able to identify the two men riding a two-wheeler. The men were not wearing helmets and the CCTV footage showed them going to Sultanpuri.
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Further inquiries led the police to Haryana's Sonipat from where one of the two men involved in the snatching was arrested. The police arrested 21-year-old Gaurav, alias Nonu, from Sonipat where he was hiding at a relative's home. The other man involved in the robbery -Badal - was arrested later from Sultanpuri.
The police recovered the stolen purse as well as the scooter that the men were riding when they snatched Damayanti Ben's purse on Saturday morning.
As per sources, one of the two snatchers Gaurav confessed that he had spotted Damayanti Ben in an auto-rickshaw and followed her about a kilometre before he and Badal rode past her and snatched her purse.
Damayanti Ben is the daughter of the prime minister's brother Prahlad Modi. "I came to Delhi and reached Gujarati Samaj Bhavan Saturday morning. I was scheduled to take a flight for Gujarat in the evening. I was getting off the auto-rickshaw when the snatchers targeted me," she had said after being robbed in Delhi.