The dubious distinction of being the only offender in city who can snatch chains all by himself, riding a bike with one hand and grabbing chains with the other, was a matter of pride for Jai Kishan Singh.
But that was till his notoriety caught up, with the police easily identifying him whenever a victim of chain snatching described that a single person had taken away her chain. To overcome this and mislead the police and victims, he began hiring persons to sit pillion on his bike whenever he set out to snatch chains.
Thirty-year-old Singh, who was nabbed by the Commissioner’s Task Force (North) sleuths and the Asifnagar police on Thursday along with an associate, revealed this to his interrogators. “Though I had the expertise of riding a bike and snatching chains simultaneously, that became a crucial lead for the police. To avoid this I started hiring individuals to ride pillion on my bike,” he was quoted as saying by the investigators.
The women, whose chains were taken away, would tell the police that they saw two bike-borne men. “Naturally, Singh would slip our radar because he is known to commit snatchings alone,” a police officer said.
Singh used to offer biryani plus liquor and Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 to the person accompanying him while snatching the chain each time. The pillion rider would not physically involve himself in snatching the chain. The accused had managed to evade police by not arousing suspicions about his complicity in this fashion for the past six months.
