When Manjunath Devareddy, a 23-year-old Mechanical Engineering student in Bengaluru stepped out of his residence, on Sunday, with a friend to repair his mobile phone, he did not except this day would change his life. Fifteen minutes after leaving his house, Manjunath and his friend Kariappa were walking along the crowded MG Road when a habitual chain-snatcher went on a stabbing spree from Rangoli Art Centre on MG Road Boulevard till Church Street, injuring five people — including the 35-year-old woman whose chain he had snatched — and Manjunath himself.
"My friend and I went on Sunday to repair my phone on SP road. However, most of the shops were closed, so next we decided to go to MG Road because it was nearby. We were walking towards the metro station when I heard a woman screaming, and when I turned to my left she was beside the metro pillar near Rangoli Art Centre. At first, I couldn't figure out what happened. I saw children screaming. The next moment I see the chain snatcher cut the woman's right hand with a knife and grab her chain and immediately try to escape by crossing the road," says Manjunath.
The young student began chasing the man, whose name was subsequently learnt to be Dastagir, across the road coming out the other side on Church Street. "Policemen tried to stop him but he went on running. When the public tried to stop him, he attacked and stabbed some of them and then kept running towards St Mark's Road," Manjunath continues.
Manjunath and Nagesh, the police constable from MG Road kept chasing Dastagir for almost half a kilometre, before the cop kicked the chain snatcher's back and he fell down between a car and an auto. The next moment, Manjunath tried to tackle him and got stabbed near his left lower abdomen. While grappling with the snatcher, Manjunath also hurt his left hand, but that did not make him abandon the chase. Dastagir still managed to escape, however, a mere 10 to 20 feet from the place the police nabbed him and took Dastagir into custody. A native of Ballari, he was the hero for the people on Sunday, as he grappled with the dagger-wielding chain-snatcher, to wrest the weapon from his hand to allow the police to pin him down and bring the terrifying saga to an end.
Manjunath’s brave deed will be remembered as he chased the snatcher despite being stabbed on his left palm and the left side of his abdomen.
Manjunath's Sunday finally ended when he left the hospital with five stitches on his left palm and headed for Kanakapura Main Road, where he stays as a PG. He just completed his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from YDIT College, Bengaluru. "I still haven't fixed my phone," he chuckles. "But I am glad I managed to help the police," he adds.
