Delhi: Woman hockey player chases phone snatchers, nabs 1

New Delhi: A brave woman hockey player in Delhi chased two miscreants and caught hold of one of them after they snatched her friend's cell phone in a bus in west Delhi's Punjabi Bagh area, police said on Tuesday.

Ritu Bhoraiya, who has represented Haryana and Delhi in national hockey tournaments, was going to Peeragarhi along with her two friends in a bus when the snatchers struck on January 20. All the three girls are students of Delhi University's Shyama Prasad Mukherji college.

At about 12 noon when the bus stopped at Madipur bus stop, two boys snatched one of her friend's cell phone and tried to flee, said Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west).

Ritu, who has played national level hockey, did not flinch and gave a chase to the duo and caught one of them, identified as Dalchand alias Sunny, 19, an active snatcher of the area and a resident of Bakkar Wala village, he said.

She said, "I told my two friends to walk while I started following the snatcher. I have represented Haryana and Delhi in hockey tournaments. My fitness level as a hockey player came in handy and I managed to catch one of them who had snatched my friend's phone and ran away".

Though it was the first such incident she came across, Ritu said she will not shy away from helping others in future.

In the meantime, a patrolling party of police constable Siyaram also reached the spot and arrested Dalchand.

The snatched mobile phone was recovered from the accused.

A case was registered at the Punjabi Bagh police station and efforts were being made to arrest the absconding accused, said the officer.

During interrogation, Dalchand confessed to have snatched mobile phones and money from vulnerable targets in the area. He was previously arrested in a case of snatching registered at the Ranhola police station in May last year, the officer added.