Young woman in Chennai dies, after struggle with mobile phone snatchers causes her to fall from train- NSP NEWS

S. Preethi, 22, the victim. She died on Saturday, July 8, 2023
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A 22-year-old woman in Chennai died at a hospital on Saturday, July 8, 2023, after she fell from a train in a struggle to prevent thieves from snatching her mobile phone. The incident took place on July 2, 2023.

The victim has been identified as S. Preethi, a resident of Kandanchavadi, an employee of a private firm in Kotturpuram. Preethi regularly commuted regularly on the MRTS, taking the train between Kotturpuram and Thiruvanmiyur.

On July 2, 2023, passengers found the young woman unconscious on the platform, with head injuries, after a fall from the train that had stopped at the Indira Nagar Railway Station, and was about to proceed to Thiruvanmiyur. Preethi was taken to two private hospitals and later admitted to the Government Royapettah Hospital, where she died. Following a complaint from her father Srinivasan, the Government Railway Police (GRP), Thiruvanmiyur registered a case, of an accidental fall and began an investigation.  

 S .Manimaran, 19 of Adyar and B. Vignesh, 27 of Pattinapakkam, the two men accused of snatching Preethi’s mobile phone
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Superintendent of Police, GRP, Chennai V. Ponram said, “The victim’s father reported to us that her mobile phone was missing from where she was found. Our investigation revealed that her mobile phone was stolen from the scene of occurrence. We analysed call record details and traced the location of the mobile phone with the help of the Cyber Crime Police. That is when we cracked the case and arrested two men, who were involved in snatching of the victim’s mobile phone that resulted in her fall and subsequent death.”  

The police investigation led to S. Raju, 29, a worker at a fish shop in Besant Nagar who was using Preethi’s mobile phone and he told police that he had bought the phone for ₹2,000 from a duo on the evening of July 2, 2023.

Police arrested the duo who have been identified as S. Manimaran, 19 of Adyar and B. Vignesh, 27 of Pattinapakkam. During the interrogation, they admitted to have committed the crime. They told the police that when they were attempting to snatch the phone from Preethi, she had been standing on the footboard of the train and was talking on the phone. They said she struggled with them to prevent them from snatching the phone, and, in the struggle, she fell off the train on to the platform. The two had fled from the scene, said the police.    

Police said the two men were arrested on charges of murder and remanded to judicial custody.