PM's niece falls prey to snatchers in Delhi; robbed of Rs 50,000, 2 phones

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's niece has become the latest victim of snatching in the national capital with her purse containing cash of Rs 50,000 and two mobile phones wrenched from her grasp by two persons when she was alighting from an auto-rickshaw on Saturday.

Based on a complaint by Damayanti Ben Modi, daughter of the prime minister's brother Prahlad Modi, police registered a case and later identified the two snatchers.

The incident happened soon after Damayanti Ben reached Delhi from Amritsar in the morning.

Two persons on a scooter snatched the woman's purse containing Rs 50,000, two mobile phones, some documents and other valuables around 7 am when she got down at the Gujrati Samaj Bhawan in North Delhi's Civil Lines area, a senior police officer said.

The incident occurred a few kilometres away from the residence of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief minister Arvind kejriwal.

Damayanti Ben had a flight to Ahmedabad in the evening.

She informed police and on her statement, the case under section 356 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person) and 379 (punishment for theft) was registered at Civil Lines police station, they said.

Police said that they have examining the CCTV footage of nearby areas and identified the two accused persons and claimed that they will be arrested soon.

"I came to Delhi and reached Gujarati Samaj Bhavan on 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," the woman said.

After the incident, the Aam Aadmi Party took potshots at the Modi government, saying this reflects the "miserable and pathetic" law and order situation in Delhi.

"With each passing day, the law and order situation is going from bad to worse. The alacrity that Delhi Police shows in chasing political opponents of the BJP is completely absent when it comes to providing safety to the people of Delhi. The most recent victim of this has been the niece of our prime minister," AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said.

"It is all the more shocking that such an incident took place near the residences of LG and Chief Minister," he said.

He said the Home ministry should take immediate and strong measures to restore law and order in Delhi.

In the past couple of months, several incidents of snatching have taken reported in the national capital.

On September 22, a woman journalist was injured after she attempted to resist a snatching bid in south Delhi's CR park while she was returning home in an auto-rickshaw.

Two men on motorcycle snatched her mobile phone and in the struggle, she fell from the vehicle while the men fled the spot.

A few days later, another woman journalist fell victim when her mobile phone was snatched by two bike-borne men in southeast Delhi's Okhla.