Man shot at for trying to foil snatching bid on wife

NEW DELHI: Resisting snatchers proved costly for a 42-year-old engineer, who was shot in the stomach when he tried to take on two motorcycle-borne men who tried to snatch his doctor wife's gold chain in central Delhi's Rajinder Nagar on Tuesday night.

The victim Ashok Kumar was immediately rushed to a hospital, while the snatchers managed to escape, despite colliding with a car immediately after the snatching.

They were also able to take away a piece of the gold chain and a locket they were targeting, said a senior police officer.

The incident occurred after Kumar and his five-year-old son were visiting the private hospital where his wife works as a doctor.

As soon as the woman came out to meet her husband, she was targeted by the motorcycle-borne men who were riding on the wrong side of the road.

They grabbed her chain and tried to ride away, but ended up colliding with a car.

As the snatchers fell off the bike, Kumar saw an opportunity and rushed to nab them.

"After the snatchers realised they might be caught, one of them pulled out a pistol and fired at Kumar, while he held on to the other snatcher. However, Kumar was forced to loosen his grip on the suspect, which allowed the snatchers to escape," said an investigator.

Kumar was rushed to BL Kapur Hospital, where he is condition is stable, the investigator added.

A case of attempt to murder and robbery has been registered at Prasad Nagar police station and a team formed to crack the case, with cops adding they have certain leads about the snatchers.

In the recent past, Delhi has witnessed a spurt in snatching cases, wherein snatchers even get violent and do not hesitate in opening fire, stabbing or pulling people out of moving vehicles if they resist the robbery attempt.