Man held for snatching chain

PUNE: The Kondhwa police on Wednesdayclaimed to have solved four cases of chain snatching with the arrest of a criminal on police records and the recovery of two gold chains as well as a stolen motorcycle together worth Rs 67,000 from his possession.
The Kondhwa police have identified the man as Babbu alias Nijamuddin Jalaluddin Shaikh (26) of Mankhurd, Mumbai.Shaikh has a previous criminal record. He has 32 cases - including chain snatchings, house break-ins and vehicle thefts - registered against him. He was convicted in five cases, sent to the prison and was released in December 2010.
"Investigations have revealed that after his release, Shaikh was involved in chain-snatching incidents in the city, including one each at Salunke Vihar road, Lohegaon, Nigdi Pradhikaran and Prabhat road," said senior inspector Prasad Hasabnis of the Kondhwa police station.
Hasabnis said that during patrolling in the Salunke Vihar road area recently, sub-inspector Jitendra Kadam and his team noticed Shaikh speeding towards NIBM road on a motorcycle. "He accelerated when asked to stop. Seeing this, the police team began to chase him. Shaikh kept going till he reached Undri, where he left the motorcycle and ran into the jungle. The police team followed him into the jungle and Shaikh was caught after a hot chase."
He said that during interrogation, Shaikh revealed that he had stolen the motorcycle from Kalbhornagar in Pimpri. A case had already been registered at the Pimpri police station in this regard. "Shaikh also agreed to his involvement in four chain-snatching cases, and two chains were later recovered from him. We suspect that he might have committed more crimes with the help of his accomplices. We are investigating further," Hasabnis said.
The investigating team comprises police constables Ashok Jadhav, Arjun Divekar, Vilas Jori and Sandi Jagtap.