New Delhi: One of the two bike-borne assailants who allegedly robbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's niece in Delhi has been arrested on Sunday. The miscreants, who on Saturday snatched the purse of Damayanti Ben Modi, daughter of the prime minister's brother Prahlad Modi, have been identified with the help of CCTV footage, Delhi Police said. Both the accused are from Delhi, the police said, adding that one of the duo is suspected to be a minor.

The purse containing cash of Rs 50,000, two mobile phones and other valuables were wrenched from Damayanti's grasp by two persons when she was alighting from an auto-rickshaw at the Gujrati Samaj Bhawan in North Delhi's Civil Lines area yesterday morning.

She informed the police and on her statement, the case under section 356 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person) and 379 (punishment for theft) was registered at Civil Lines police station.

Based on a complaint by her, police registered a case and later identified the two snatchers. The accused has been identified as Nonu, police said, adding the stolen items have been recovered.

Watch | Cops identify bag snatchers of PM's niece Damyanti Ben



Notalbly, the incident occurred a few kilometres away from the residence of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief minister Arvind kejriwal.

After the incident, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took potshots at the Modi government, saying this reflects the "miserable and pathetic" law and order situation in Delhi.

"With each passing day, the law and order situation is going from bad to worse. The alacrity that Delhi Police shows in chasing political opponents of the BJP is completely absent when it comes to providing safety to the people of Delhi. The most recent victim of this has been the niece of our prime minister," AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said.

"It is all the more shocking that such an incident took place near the residences of LG and Chief Minister," he said.

In the past couple of months, several incidents of snatching have taken reported in the national capital.

On September 22, a woman journalist was injured after she attempted to resist a snatching bid in south Delhi's CR park while she was returning home in an auto-rickshaw.

Two men on motorcycle snatched her mobile phone and in the struggle, she fell from the vehicle while the men fled the spot.

A few days later, another woman journalist fell victim when her mobile phone was snatched by two bike-borne men in southeast Delhi's Okhla.

(With inputs from PTI)