Bhubaneswar: Just days after a woman lost her life at the hands of chain snatchers, an elderly women was robbed off her chain on Friday morning while observing Boita Bandana rituals at a temple in Nayapalli area.
Laxmi Priya Pati (71), who stays with her youngest son Suchitra Kumar Pati (37) at a rented accommodation in Nayapalli Behera Sahi, reached Balunkeswar Mahadev temple near her home on Friday morning to float a miniature boat as part of Boita Bandana rituals.
After floating the boat, she came to the temple to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva. Many devotees were inside the temple. “While I was busy offering prayers, I felt something around my neck. Later I found the gold chain missing,” said Laxmi Priya.
She asked her son to check whether the gold chain was there or not. “I could not control my emotion after the incident. The gold chain was gifted by my deceased husband. He had purchased the chain from Kolkata years back. It was my husband’s memory, now it is all gone,” she lamented.
Suchitra, an IT professional, said his mother got upset after losing the gold chain, which weighed around 13 grams. They lodged an FIR at Nayapalli police station. “I have been reading about several snatching cases happening in the twin cities, but I had never expected that we would fall prey at the hands of miscreants,” Suchitra said.
Bhubaneswar DCP Pinak Mishra, however, said it was not a snatching incident. “It is improper to term the incident as a snatching case as the gold chain was stolen in the crowd. It is a theft case. We are looking into the matter,” Mishra said.
On Wednesday night, a woman died after suffering from head injury during a snatching attempt. She was travelling with her husband on a two-wheeler on Monday afternoon when bike-borne miscreants tried to snatch her gold chain. She lost her balance and fell on the ground, injuring her head. She died in hospital during treatment two days later.