Mumbai: A young man’s obsession with impressing girls landed him behind bars after his very first attempt at robbery. Akash Lokhande, burdened with debts due to his extravagant lifestyle to woo women, resorted to chain snatching to repay loans. Ironically, his downfall came because of the same habit—offering a lift to a female classmate—just moments before committing the crime.
On May 20, Ranjana Ghutukade, a resident of Bhatwadi in Ghatkopar, was walking down the road when an unidentified motorcyclist snatched her gold chain and shoved her forcefully, leaving her seriously injured.
A case under Section 309(6) of the BNS was registered at Ghatkopar Police Station. Considering the seriousness of the incident, a joint team from Ghatkopar Police and Zone 7 Crime Detection Unit was formed.
The snatching took place around 7 PM. Unfortunately, there were no CCTV cameras at the crime spot. Police then began tracing the motorcyclist’s route using surveillance footage from nearby roads. After reviewing over 350 cameras, they found a crucial clue—a man riding with a young woman near Adani Realtors in Pant Nagar around 5 PM.
The bike was later seen heading toward Ghatkopar railway station, where the woman got off and took an auto-rickshaw. Police tracked the rickshaw number, which led them to Bhatwadi, where they located and questioned the girl. She identified the rider as her school friend, Akash Lokhande, who had offered her a ride. She claimed she was unaware of his intentions or actions afterward.
Based on her information, police traced Lokhande to Talegaon in Pune, where he had gone into hiding after the theft. He was arrested soon after.
According to police, Lokhande had developed an expensive habit of spending money on women—dining at fancy restaurants and trying to impress them. He even purchased a ₹1.5 lakh bike to maintain his image. But this led to mounting debts, and under pressure from friends demanding repayment, he decided to snatch a gold chain.
On May 20, while en route to commit the crime, he coincidentally met his former classmate and offered her a lift—a gesture that would eventually help police identify and arrest him. The team’s diligent work and intelligent use of surveillance led to the swift arrest of the first-time offender—whose obsession with impressing women proved to be his greatest mistake.
