A 17-year old, who caught a fleeing thief after a hot chase here, was today lauded by city police Commissioner A K Viswanathan for his bravery.
R Suryakumar chased and nabbed the thief, who tried to escape after snatching the 10-sovereign (80 grams) gold chain of Amudha, a gynaecologist, at her clinic here on April 17.
"It is a courageous act. It is the willpower that matters more than a stronger physique and this boy (lean built) has proved that," Viswanathan said posing with the teenager, flanked by his colleagues.
The Commissioner said it was the timely help rendered by the teenager that led to the arrest of the thief.
The 26-year old thief had posed as a patient's husband and visited the doctor's clinic. After a conversation with her, he suddenly snatched her chain and ran out of the clinic.
Suryakumar, who was in the vicinity, heard the woman's cries and ran behind the thief, raising an alarm all along and finally caught him.
Later, with the help of public, the thief was handed over to a local police station. Some footage of the chase obtained from CCTV cameras in the vicinity was also made available to the media.
Against a spate of chain-snatching incidents here, he appealed to the general public to come forward to help police to nab the culprits.
"Without public cooperation, police department cannot function. There need not be any hesitancy or fear," he said.
This incident in the backdrop of a spate of chain-snatching incidents in the city in recent past.
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