16 chain-snatching cases solved, 4 held

PUNE: The crime branch on Wednesday claimed to have detected 16 cases of chain snatching following the arrest of a gang of three men. The police have also recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 7.50 lakh from them.
The anti-chain snatching squad of the crime branch, led by senior inspector Chandrakant Ghodke, made the arrests. The police have also arrested a jeweller, Rahul Jadhav of Kopargaon in Ahmednagar district, who used to purchase the stolen ornaments from the suspects.
The suspects have been identified as Riyaz Fayyaz Irani and Imran Firoz Irani, both from Shrirampur in Ahmednagar district, and Kadar alias Salim Murtuza Kanyal of Solapur. The jeweller has been identified as Rahul Jadhav of Kopargaon in Ahmednagar district.
Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, deputy commissioner of police (crime) Rajesh Bansode said the gang had committed chain snatching crimes between January and April this year. "We are expecting to detect more cases of chain snatching," Bansode said.
The 16 cases of chain-snatching detected by the crime branch include two each from Dattawadi, Warje Malwadi, Kothrud, Market Yard police stations areas and one each from Kondhwa, Sangvi, Khadak, Bhosari, Vishrambaug, Samarth, Chinchwad and Nigdi police stations.
Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, Ghodke said the suspects used to come to the city during the early hours on motorcycles. "They used to snatch three to four gold chains in a span of three to four hours in the morning before returning to Shrirampur," he said.
He said Imran is a criminal on Pune police records and has 12 cases of chain-snatching registered against him, while Kanyal has one case registered against him. "Recently, the crime branch had arrested two chain snatchers from Goa. Imran was in Goa at that time. However, he had managed to escape then."
The investigating team comprised police constables Raju Borde, Baba Dangde, Laxman Dhumal, Digambar Adagale, Manohar Bhoine and Dilip Pawar.