Mumbai: A 32-year-old man from Kalyan, allegedly with over 23 cases of chain-snatching against him, has been arrested by the Vikhroli police at National Highway 45 in Madhya Pradesh followed by a 150-kilometre chase.
On June 7, Sandeep Gaikwad (39) was on his motorbike on the Eastern Express Highway near Vikhroli when an unknown person on another motorbike approached him, forcibly pulled a gold chain from his neck, and sped away towards Thane. Gaikwad reported the incident to the Vikhroli police.
According to the police, the incident occurred at midnight on an empty road. Several similar cases had been reported on the Eastern Express Highway. Senior Police Inspector Sudhir Hirdekar of Vikhroli formed a team of 15 officers, led by PSI Pankaj Patil, to investigate the case.
The team reviewed footage from 75 CCTV cameras and traced the suspect through the jurisdictions of Thane and Kalyan police. Their investigation, combined with technical analysis, pinpointed the suspect's location in the Ambivili area near Kalyan.
The accused, identified as Mohammad Syed alias Salman, was found to frequently visit Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Nashik for his chain-snatching activities, according to the police. The police team monitored Salman’s location in Kalyan, but he never returned home. After receiving a tip-off about his trip to Madhya Pradesh, a team of four officers was deployed to track him.
“We learned he was traveling from Bhopal to Uttar Pradesh via NH45, and our team positioned themselves at the spot where Salman was spotted,” an officer said. When Salman saw the police, he tried to flee, but after a 150-kilometre chase, the police successfully apprehended him. The local police from Mandideep police station assisted the Vikhroli police in the chase, followed by Salman’s transit remand to Mumbai.
After the arrest, Salman was brought to Vikhroli, where he confessed to his gold chain-snatching crimes, according to the police. Out of the 23 cases registered against him, he was wanted in many.