Police nabs three chain snatchers

• Gold chains weighing 46 tolas and three bikes recovered
• The accused use stolen bikes to commit chain snatching and later dispose of the bikes, says Additional Commissioner (Law & Order) Anjani Kumar

Hyderabad: The Central Zone Task Force police on Thursday arrested three persons on the charges of snatching gold chains from women and also arrested a receiver of the stolen property from Hyderabad.

Caterers from Hyderabad, Akshay Sharma alias Chota Jabbar (20), Syed Abdul Hai Azeem Mehdi alias Zingada (23), and B Com student Sumeet Kumar Jha (21), a native of Madhuban district in Bihar were involved in as many as 21 chain snatching offenses in the limits of various police stations in twin commissionerates of Hyderabad and Cyberabad, said Hyderabad city Additional Commissioner (Law & Order) Anjani Kumar.

"On credible information, the Task Force team busted the accused in Narayanguda and recovered gold chains weighing 46.5 tolas and three motorcycles from them," the Additional commissioner said. Addressing a press conference at the police commissioner’s office on Thursday, he said that the accused were notorious in nature of their crimes.

They used to target women who walk in lanes and by-lanes in various areas. They identify the victim and snatch gold chains by moving in the opposite direction of the victim, he added.The Additional Commissioner further said: “The accused persons used to steal bikes and use them to commit the offenses and abandon the vehicles at remote places in the city.

In the last four months they committed 21 chain snatching offenses. The stolen property was sold to Vairal Datta Hari (21) of Goshamahal and they spent the money lavishly. Hari was also arrested for buying the stolen property from the accused." Anjani Kumar informed the media that the accused Azeem Mehdi was a habitual offender who was involved in as many as 10 property offenses.

He further stated that a proposal would be sent to the government for detention of the accused persons under Preventive Detention Act. In another incident, The Hans India journalist, on Wednesday, witnessed an incident in one of the lanes of Srinagar Colony while walking back home where two persons on motorcycles tried to snatch the mobile phone of a woman.

As they could not get hold of the phone, they flew away with an ear ring. Surprisingly, the bike had no number plate. Absence of street lights and less traffic particularly during 8pm to 10 pm has become dangerous for the pedestrians particularly women as these are the perfect spots for the committing the crime.Following a complaint, ACP Uday Kumar Reddy, assured that the police would intensify patrolling in the colony to avert any such incidents in the future.