A 35-year-old man allegedly involved in 100 cases of snatching and robbery in the Capital has been arrested from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, the police said on Tuesday.
DCP (Dwarka) Santosh Kumar Meena said that the accused has been idnetified as Arjun, a resident of Jhuggi Lal Bagh. One goldsmith, who was the receiver of snatched chains, identified as Vishal Verma, has also been arrested, Mr. Meena said.
According to the police, Arjun was wanted in 26 cases, including 10 in Dwarka district, 13 in west district, and three in Rohini district. He was released on bail in April. He returned to snatching and robbery, the police said.
Mr. Meena said that they managed to catch him after visiting the spots of the current snatching incidents and collecting data of CCTV footage. It came to notice that in most incidents, the snatchers were active during early mornings or after 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., the police said.
“On September 14, we received information that Mr. Arjun was going to Gogamedhi Dham, Jodhpur to evade arrest. A police team reached Jodhpur and arrested him,” Mr. Meena said.
During interrogation, the police said, Arjun disclosed his involvement in more than 50 cases of snatching and robbery of gold chains in Dwarka, West, North-West, North and Rohini districts, the police said.
The police said that the accused disclosed that he had committed the snatchings and robberies with his accomplices Ashish, Ajay, Amrish and his brother Sonu. They used high-performance stolen motorcycles or scooters, the police said.
He said that he handed over many snatched gold chains to his mother, sister Pooja and brother-in-law Ravi and other relatives. Raids were conducted at the houses of his family members, but they were found absconding, the police said.
The accused used to change the colour of the stolen motorcycles to commit snatching and not get caught.
During the COVID lockdown, the police said, Verma came in contact with Arjun and starting taking snatched gold chains from him on 70% market value. Five gold chains, three bikes and two scooters were recovered from their possession, the police said.
