Inter-state thief among 3 held for chain snatchings

​Hyderabad: An inter-state thief among three chain-snatchers was arrested by Kachiguda and Task Force police, in two separate cases on Monday.

According to police, Nitesh Jagannath Dhapale alias Deepak Patil, 34, a resident of Mumbai and native of Karnataka, involved in several cases of chain-snatching on stolen bikes was arrested under Barkatpura police station limits. Earlier, he committed several offences in Karnataka and Maharashtra along with his accomplices. However, he operated alone in the city.

On December 21, Patil committed five offences in the city including bike theft and disposing of stolen property at Visakhapatnam, besides chain-snatchings. Later on February 2, he lifted another bike in Amberpet with the intention of chain-snatching.

“Given his association with gang members from Karnataka and Maharashtra, a total of 12 Non-Bailable Warrants are pending in both States against him,” informed DCP East Zone, V Ravinder.

Inmates turn friends
Two other accused, who were involved in 11 chain-snatching incidents in the city were also arrested by Task Force on Monday. Mohd Layeeq, 29, native of Zaheerabad and Syed Aslam, 27, resident of Malakpet, became friends in 2014 while serving jail term for offences committed earlier. After being released in 2016, both resorted to chain-snatching.

They targeted women walking in isolated places in city and Zaheerabad. They pledged some of the gold chains in Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Gold, which were recovered.

In January, both the accused had also planned to commit robbery of Rs 2 crore from persons involved in Hawala trade in Jalna, Maharashtra.