A woman walking towards her home in Bijoygarh after seeing off her niece lost her gold chain to a snatcher on a scooter on Sunday evening.

Her screams alerted a police patrol, which was nearby, and cops caught the person on the scooter before he could speed away, police said. The chain was found on him.

He has been arrested on the charge of robbery.

Sunita Pal, 48, was walking towards her home around 6.30pm without realising someone was stalking her, the police said.

“As she neared her home, the person on the scooter pushed her and pulled at her chain so hard that it snapped,” an officer of Jadavpur police station said.

She lost her balance and fell on the road and started screaming for help as the person rode away. A patrol vehicle that was nearby gave chase and caught up with the scooter, which did not have a number plate, a few hundred metres away, the officer said.

Ranajit Patra, 30, a resident of Haridevpur, was arrested after the gold chain was found on him. The scooter has been seized.

The patrol was part of the additional police arrangement for Diwali across the city on Saturday and Sunday.

“Women are especially vulnerable during festivals because of the jewellery they wear. This year, the situation is more serious as there are fewer people on roads because of the pandemic… criminals can find it easier to target women and children,” an officer said.

This was the reason why additional cops were posted in lanes across the city, the officer said. Cops were posted not just to look into to complaints related to firecrakers but also to act as a deterrent to crime on Diwali and Kali Puja, he said.