Unit two of the Crime Branch of Navi Mumbai police arrested five persons and claimed to have solved a total of 20 cases of chain snatching which took place in the last one year. The police also recovered stolen items, mostly gold jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh.
Police said that after the lockdown was eased, there was a rise in chain snatching cases, following which unit two of the crime branch worked on the modus operandi and vehicles used for committing the crime. In addition, the police also took the help of CCTV footage.
Bipin Kumar Singh, commissioner of police said that based on the homework on criminals’ movements and other activities, the crime branch reached a conclusion that an inter-state racket was involved in the crime.
Under the guidance of the deputy commissioner of police (crime) B G Shekhar Patil, with the help of Jharkhand and Orrisa police, two main accused identified as Tanvir Mohammad Ibrahim Shaikh alias Deepak, 22, and his accomplice Akhil Sharif Khan, 25, were arrested from a long route train along Jharkhand and Orrisa border. “They were fleeing to Kolkata when we caught them in an express train,” said DCP Patil.
The other accused arrested were identified as Tashruf Shaikh, 24, a resident of Mankhurd, Shabnam Shabbir Shaikh, 25, a resident of Panvel and Harun Lala Saiyad, 23, a resident of a slum near Panvel railway station.
“A total of 20 cases in Vashi, Rabale, NRI, Kamothe, Vashi and Sanpada police station were registered against them for chain snatching and robbery,” said Patil.
A case of robbery and dishonesty for receiving stolen property registered against them at NRI police station under section 392, 411 and 34 of IPC. “Most of the robbery cases solved were committed before the lockdown was imposed,” said Patil.
