Clearly, criminals in the state capital are not adhering to social distancing norms even if some of them are wearing masks.

Two men on a bike, their faces covered, snatched a gold chain off the neck of Punam Kumari, 31, at PHED Colony in the Doranda police station area around 7.30am on Monday. “As my sister was walking in front of my house, men on a speeding bike snatched her gold chain, worth Rs 15,000, and sped away even before she could raise alarm,” said Gautam Kumar Raja, Punam’s brother who works with an insurance company.

Punam lives in Patna. She had come to meet her parents and got stuck in the city due to the sudden lockdown.

On March 27, the body of a youth, Manoj Oraon, was recovered from an agriculture field in Mahua Toli under Ormanjhi police station area.

Three men, Prabal Prajapati, Mahesh Prajapati and Kaleshwar Prajati, have been arrested since then and sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail.

Ormanjhi police station officer in-charge Shyam Kishore Mahto said Oraon was killed as he wanted to marry a girl against her will and had entered her house at Sapi village during the ongoing lockdown.

On the same day that Oraon’s body was found, cops arrested from Tilta Chowk under Ratu police station area two men who were smuggling over 100 bottles of liquor hidden under a heap of vegetables.

“It is true that crimes are still being committed though the number has drastically reduced,” said superintendent of police (rural) Rishav Kumar Jha, who is also taking care of the city area.