In two separate incidents of snatching, two senior journalists working with The Pioneer newspaper were robbed of their mobile phones in central Delhi and Noida.
In first incident, senior journalist, Saimi Sattar’s phone was snatched by a man in Central Delhi’s Dariyaganj area. The incident took place just 100 metres from the office of district's Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).
"I was sitting in an auto on Thursday morning and was going towards Connaught Place from Daryaganj for some work. I never take out my phone while I am in auto-rickshaw or e-rickshaw, but this morning, it was an important message which I had replied," said Sattar.
"Meanwhile, a person came there around 10.15 am and snatched my Samsung A-50 phone. I left my bag in the auto and started chasing him. The accused manage to flee and disappeared near Daryaganj police station," she said.
In her complaint, Sattar also mentioned about the snatcher’s appearance.
She said the height of snatcher was around 5.4, bleach brown hair, wearing light brown T-shirt and a dark brown trouser.
"After the incident, when I tried to call on my number, the phone kept on ringing but there was no response. Subsequently, using Google dashboard, I tracked my phone and last location was seen in Daryaganj around 10:18 am and later the phone went switched off," she said.
Sattar also said in April this year, two persons snatched her phone from Daryaganj area when she was hardly a metre away from her house.
"A case under relevant section of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at Dariyaganj police station. Police teams are scanning CCTV footages in the area to identify and nab the culprit," said a police official.
In another incident reported from Noida, senior journalist, Rakesh Singh's mobile phone was snatched by two unidentified men in Noida's sector-5 area. Police said they have registered a complaint at sector-20 police station and are scanning CCTV footage of the nearby areas.
According Rakesh, the incident took place at 5:15 pm on Thursday. “I was barely 100 meters from my office at Noida sector 6 when two men on a scooter snatched my mobile phone and fled away. They were on the wrong side,” he said.
This is not the first time a journalist was targeted by snatchers in the national Capital. Last week, Shekhar Singh another journalist working with The Pioneer was robbed of his mobile phone by an unidentified man in east Delhi's New Ashok Nagar.