Woman tries to stave off snatchers, falls to death from son’s bike

The deceased, Murugalakshmi, was riding pillion on her son’s two wheeler on Pallavaram –Thoraipakkam Radial Road when the incident happened on November 22.

Murugalakshmi from Pozhichalur near Pallavaram was into catering business. On the day of the incident, she was going with her son, Shanmughasundram, to Velachery on a two-wheeler that he was riding.

When they were on the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road, nearing the Pallikaranai flyover, two men wearing helmets on another bike began following them. Suddenly, the pillion rider tried to snatch the bag that Murugalakshmi had in her hand.

However, she held on to the bag and refused to let go of it. As she was trying to fight off the snatchers, Murugalakshmi lost balance and fell on the road, police said. Her son, too, fell on the road but suffered only minor injuries. As the mother and son was lying there injured, the snatchers escaped from the spot with the bag.

Murugalakshmi suffered severe head injuries in the fall. The people who gathered there immediately rushed to a private hospital nearby. After receiving information about the incident, a team of personnel from Pallikaranai station visited the spot and registered a case. They have been searching for the two snatchers but have not been able to track them yet, sources said. As there was no improvement in Murugalakshmi’s health condition, she was referred to a private hospital in Anna Nagar a few days ago. There, she was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit. However, her condition worsened in the last couple days, said police, adding that she succumbed to the injuries on Friday.

Following her death, the Pallikaranai police modified the case as murder. They investigators are checking the CCTV footage from the locality to identify the culprits. Raising concerns over the incident, the local residents said robberies and chain snatching cases were increasing on the Radial Road, and urged the police to ensure that a team was on patrol along the stretch.