The police have claimed to have solved 13 cases of chain snatching with the arrest of a serial offender who targeted men as they returned home after work late at night. The police have recovered stolen gold jewellery worth ₹3.50 lakh from the accused.
The Dindoshi police said the accused, Iqbal Turak (27), worked as a cellphone vendor by day and a chain snatcher by night. The police said over the last few months, they noticed an increase in the number of complaints of a bike-borne chain snatcher who targeted men late at night in Zone XI and Zone XII. The police said the cases were reported away from chain snatching-prone areas marked by them.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone XII) Vinay Kumar Rathod said: “Turak was caught by locals in Dindoshi area on October 16 when he tried to flee after snatching a man’s chain. He was handed over to the police and we found that a large number of complaints had been filed against a chain snatcher who targeted men at night. We then made inquiries into Turak’s antecedents.”
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Turak was interrogated extensively over the past two days and found responsible for committing six crimes within Dindoshi police’s jurisdiction, one of which was registered last year. He was also found to be responsible for three cases in Malad, two in Kandivali and one in Goregaon.
Turak has been remanded in police custody till Friday. The police said they would seek additional custody of the accused to find out if he is behind chain snatching cases in the northern suburbs. Officers said other police stations that have cases registered against him are also likely to seek his custody.
Around three years ago, to tackle the rise in chain snatching cases, the police started invoking the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against repeat offenders. The decision was taken after several repeat offenders were found to be part of organised inter-State gangs.
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