A woman in Ludhiana foiled a robbery attempt in an autorickshaw by three men, including the driver, by clinging to the side of the moving vehicle and alerting passing commuters, who forced the vehicle to stop, officials said on Wednesday.
Commuters captured the harrowing scene on their phones and videos of the robbery attempt on the National Highway at Jalandhar Bypass, Ludhiana, on Monday, showing the woman barely hanging from the auto for an extended period, quickly went viral.
Two of them -- Mohit alias Manu and Dimple Makkar alias Bunty -- were arrested after the incident and handed over to the police by alert commuters. A third man, Shubham, managed to flee the scene.
They were allegedly trying to snatch Meena's phone.
The infuriated commuters, in the heat of the moment, vandalised the autorickshaw.
According to Meena, she had boarded the auto from Jalandhar Bypass Chowk bound for Phillaur. The driver and two passengers had allegedly plotted to commit the robbery.
One of them pretended that he had to pee, and then both men in the passenger seat pushed Meena between them and attempted to tie her hands with her 'dupatta', allegedly trying to snatch her phone.
She said that she cried out for help while "hanging" from the auto.
Videos online show her sticking her body out of the auto while holding on to the side of the vehicle for dear life. The woman said she clung to the auto for about 500 metres to save herself.
Ludhiana Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Davinder Chaudhary confirmed arresting the two accused and said that three phones were also recovered from them during questioning.
An FIR has been lodged against them under relevant sections of the BNS here at Salem Tabri police station.
Notably, Mohit alias Manu is already facing trial in three criminal cases, and further investigation is underway, police said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
