IT professional claims his sleuthing led to chain-snatcher, cops deny him credit

MUMBAI: Two days after the MIDC police said they had cracked a case of serial chain-snatching by arresting two college students, the son of a victim has claimed that it was he who helped track down the duo through a social networking site. His claim, though, clashes with the police statement that the accused were nabbed with the help of CCTV footage.
Jayendra Doiifode, a 24-year-old IT professional and MIDC resident, told TOI on Thursday that the police have denied him credit for his "efforts". Doiifode said he traced the main accused, Tishil Rathour (20), on the site based on the description provided by his mother Chaya (46) who herself fell victim to chain-snatching recently. "I want credit or else I will approach senior cops," Doiifode said.
Rathour allegedly snatched Chaya's mangalsutra on May 1 around 9.40am, minutes after she stepped out of her residence at YAC Nagar, Kondivita road in MIDC, Andheri. Chaya saw Rathour's face as he was not wearing a helmet. "I provided his description to the police. But they made us wait for hours and showed little interest in carrying out a probe till my son told them that he could trace the accused."
Doiifode suspected that the biker was the brother of one of his colleagues, based on the description of his face and height. "On reaching his workplace, my son went through the site and got hold of a picture of Rathour and his bike and showed it to me. On May 2, I took it to the MIDC police. Inspector (Ashok) Kadam asked my son to help them get details of Rathour," she said and added, "When the incident took place, Rathour was alone. But he mentioned his minor accomplice's name."
MIDC police senior inspector Kadam refuted their claim and said that while "it is true that Doiifode provided us with basic information about the accused because he knew him, the accused were nabbed solely due to police efforts".
Doiifode said, "MIDC police promised to recommend my name to the Mumbai police commissioner for felicitation. I told the police I was only interested in getting back my mother's mangalsutra. That itself would be a big felicitation for me. But now the cops are playing a dirty game."