Alert citizen foils chain-snatching bid, hands over culprit to police

Pune: An attempt to snatch the gold chain of a woman shop owner was foiled by an alert citizen when he nabbed a criminal on police record on BT Kawade Road in Mundhwa on Thursday and handed him over to the police. His accomplice, however, fled the spot.
The suspect, Dinesh Gopal Ganore (32) of Bibvewadi, and his accomplice had entered the shop on the pretext of making some purchases there.
As soon as the woman brought the items to the counter, the suspect grabbed her gold chain and took off.
Hema Chaudhary (23) immediately raised an alarm, drawing the attention of the people in the vicinity. An alert man chased after the duo and nabbed Ganore. He was later handed over to the police for further action.
Hema told TOI, “A man posing as a customer walked into our grocery store on Thursday around 3.30pm. He purchased a cigarette and a water bottle and pulled out a Rs10 note. As I came forward to pick up the note, he snatched my gold chain worth Rs30,000 and went running towards his accomplice who was waiting on a scooter outside. The duo started speeding away.”
Chaudhary immediately gathered her wits.
“When I raised an alarm, a passerby, Rupen Hirekeru who was riding a scooter, chased after them,” she said.
The speeding duo panicked. Their scooter went over a speed breaker in an awward manner. They both lost balance and fell on the road.
“Rupen nabbed Ganore around 3.45pm, but his accomplice fled in the direction of Ghorpadi,” she said.
A police team rushed to the spot and took the suspect into custody.
Anil Patrudkar, senior inspector of the Mundhwa police station, told TOI, “Ganore has a case of body offence registered against him with the Dattawadi police station. He will be in police custody till September 11.”
The police have launched a manhunt to nab the accomplice at the earliest.
“We have arrested Ganore and booked his accomplice under sections 392 (robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code,” inspector Patrudkar further said.