Spiralling incidents of chain snatching seem to have disconcerted even the state home minister. While announcing the merger of 26 villages into the city police commissionerate yesterday, RR Patil directed the cops to use weapons against the culprits, if needed, and said there was no room for empathy.u00a0

Taking cognisance of a complaint, which came from a senior citizen whose wife’s chain was swiped in Wadgaon Sherry in broad daylight recently, Patil lashed out at the police and said, “It is disappointing that day by day the number of cases of chain snatching is increasing in the city at an alarming rate.