Ukraine envoy falls victim to snatching

New Delhi: Despite Delhi police’s tall claims that it has intensified security to put an end to street crimes, Ukraine’s ambassador to India became the latest target of snatchers when his iPhone was filched by them while he was trying to capture the images of Red Fort on his cellphone.

Over 12 teams have been formed to trace the snatcher. However, the police is yet to achieve a breakthrough. As many as 250 suspects have been rounded up by the police in this connection. 

Earlier, a German student, who had come to the national capital to visit the Red Fort, was allegedly stabbed and robbed by the miscreants. The police said that the ambassador, Dr Igor Polikha, was alone at the time of the incident, with his driver waiting for him a kilometre away in a parking lot at Daryaganj. 

He wandered alone towards Red Fort around 9 am on Wednesday. An enthusiastic photographer, the ambassador took out his iPhone while standing on a road in Angoori Bagh. According to the police, when Dr Polikha took out his iPhone to take a good shot of the fort, an unidentified man snatched his phone and ran away. 

The police later took details of the thief from the description the envoy had given. One of the alleged snatcher was later arrrested from the spot. The arrested accused, Rajendra Prasad, 26, is a resident of Nand Nagri. 

“We have recovered the snatched mobile phone of the ambassador. One person has been arrested and one more person, who had allegedly snatched the cellphone, has been identified and we are conducting raids to arrest him,” said DCP north.

The stolen iPhone was switched off immediately after the snatcher fled the spot. The phone contained mostly personal data and information of the ambassador. “The ambassador said that he must have used his iPhone to take photos of thousands of places and people in Delhi, but this was the first time he found himself in such a situation,” said a senior investigator.