GHAZIABAD: Two men on a bike stole a gold earring from a 50-year-old woman walking home after buying milk from a neighbourhood dairy in Brij Vihar colony on Monday evening, days after a college student suffered fatal injuries when a snatcher pulled her out of a moving auto in a bid to flee with her phone.Just 12 hours before Nirmala Tomar was attacked by the bike-born duo, one of the snatchers who caused the death of the BTech student was gunned down in an encounter with police. A video posted on social media shows Nirmala walking with a can of milk in hand and a woman by her side. Two men on a bike slow down near her. The one riding pillion snatches the earring from her right lobe before speeding away.The face of the man riding pillion is visible in the footage, while the one driving the bike has a helmet on. A case under Section 392 (robbery) of the IPC was lodged at Loni Road police station after Nirmalas son, Deep, lodged a complaint. "I have seen the CCTV footage of the attack on my mother. She raised an alarm, but by the time passersby responded, the two had fled," he told TOI. "It was us who gave the footage to police. They should make quick arrests now."Bhaskar Verma, the Sahibabad ACP, said the attack took place around 5pm. "We have formed five teams to arrest the two at the earliest. We are scanning the CCTV footage for more clues," he added.The fresh case of snatching underlined the law-and-order challenge street crimes pose in the NCR city.Since the commissionerate system was introduced in Ghaziabad in November last year, the police force in the city has seen an augment in infrastructure. The force is now stronger in numbers and the city has been divided into three work zones. According to police commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra, there are 120 PRVs and 186 cheetah bikes to carry out patrols in the city.Kavi Nagar resident Sangeet Singh said his friend lost his gold chain to snatchers on a road that was neither dark nor desolated. "We, now, fear going out after sunset. This is mainly because of lack of police visibility, which encourages street crime," he added.Many residents raised concern about the low number of arrests. On October 20, two bike-borne snatchers stole a BTech students phone while he was on his way to college. Six days later, three bikers stopped a school teacher at gunpoint and fled with her car. In both these cases, the city police have failed to make any arrests so far.Told about the rising concerns, Mishra said, "Hotspots have been identified and police teams will be deployed accordingly. We are also planning a dedicated team to tackle street crime."

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