Pimpri-Chinchwad: Notorious Criminal Held For Using Minors In Chain-Snatching Racket In Hinjawadi, Wakad & Sangvi

Pimpri-Chinchwad: Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have caught a notorious history sheeter accused of forcing minors to do his bidding by making them commit crimes like chain snatching and others, officials announced on Saturday. The accused used to manipulate the young minds, telling them that the life of a criminal is glorious and that they had their age as an advantage, that even if they commit a crime, they won't be severely punished. The criminal was selling the jewellery stolen by the minors to a jeweller, and the police have also arrested the jeweller who purchased the stolen goods.

The action was taken jointly by Crime Branch Unit 1 and the Anti-Property Crime Cell. Police have arrested notorious criminal identified as Karan Sunil Goyal (37, Kondhwa) and the jeweller Murlidhar Udaylal Soni (40, Kondhwa). Soni has been arrested for buying jewellery from the accused Goyal, despite being aware that they were stolen.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dr Shivaji Pawar said, “A thief was actively snatching ornaments from citizens' necks while speeding on a motorcycle at night in the Wakad, Hinjawadi, and Sangvi areas. In response, Crime Branch Unit One and the Anti-Property Crime Cell received a tip-off that the accused involved in these chain snatchings was coming to the Sangvi area. A trap was laid, and the police noticed a boy speeding on a motorcycle, and they started chasing him. Realising he was being chased, the boy sped up. Our team skilfully managed to take him into custody. It was then revealed that he was a minor. Upon questioning, the minor disclosed that Karan Goyal was the person instigating him to commit the thefts.”

DCP Dr Pawar further said that the accused Goyal would assure the minor that since he was a juvenile, the police would not take any strict action and would release him quickly. He manipulated minors and got them to commit chain-snatching offences. Due to this operation, 12 crimes registered across Sangvi, Wakad, Hinjawadi, Nigdi, Baner, Chaturshrungi, Hadapsar, Mundhwa, Shivajinagar, and Deccan Police Stations have been solved.

The action was taken under the guidance of Pimpri-Chinchwad Commissioner of Police Vinoy Kumar Choubey, JCP Dr Shashikant Mahavarkar, Addl CP Sarang Awad, DCP (Crime) Dr Shivaji Pawar, and DCP (Crime 1) Dr Vishal Hire.

Unit 1 and the Anti-Property Crime Cell teams were led by Senior Police Inspectors Narendra Thackeray (in charge of Unit 1) and Vijay Dhamal (in charge of the Anti-Property Crime Cell). The team included APIs Dattatraya Gulig and Raosaheb Mote, PSI Karmaraj Gawde, and Police Constables Shivanand Swami, Santosh Ingale, Dilip Chaudhary, Mahadev Jawale, Shivram Bhope, Deva Raut, Jaywant Raut, Vijay Shelkande, Deepak Tandle, Sandesh Deshmukh, Vijay Janrao, Uddhav Khedkar, Laxmikant Patange, Tejas Bhalchim, Somnath More, Pawan Waje, Sumit Devkar, Mohsin Attar, and Chandrakant Gadde.