Dark Diwali: 9 cases of chain-snatching in Pune

Chain snatchers made merry during the festival of lights, with nine incidents being reported in the last three days, vanishing with the booty, collectively valued at more than Rs4.30 lakh.

On Tuesday, three chain-snatching incidents were reported from areas falling under the jurisdiction of Kothrud, Chinchwad and Vishrambaug police stations. On Wednesday, the incidents took place under Swargate, Sahakarnagar and Warje police stations, and on Thursday, Yerawada, Samartha and Hadapsar police stations.

The city police suspect that the same gang was involved in all nine incidents.

Two unidentified miscreants snatched a gold chain valued at Rs50,000 in Kothrud on Tuesday morning. The two motorcycle-borne youths snatched the chain from Vimal Manikrao Patil, who was jogging with her husband, in front of Shailesh Hall and sped away.

Sulochana Ashok Khilare (40), a housewife, lodged a complaint at Chinchwad police station on Tuesday, stating that two unidentified persons on a motorcycle snatched her gold chain valued at Rs32,000 near Talera Hospital.

An unidentified person fled with a gold chain valued at Rs57,000 in Budhwar Peth on Tuesday. The victim, Surekha Sudhir Karmarkar, lodged a complaint at Vishrambaug police station.

On Laxmi pujan day, two unidentified suspects snatched a gold chain valued at Rs80,000 and sped away on a black Pulsar motorcycle near Sarasbaug bus stop, near Swargate. A complaint was lodged by the victim, Archana Javhar Kale (30), of Aundh.
Aarti Vinayak Jadhav (27) of Shukrawar Peth lodged a complaint at Sahakarnagar police station, stating that two unidentified persons on a motorcycle snatched her gold chain valued at Rs66,000.

Trupti Vinayak Gurav (22) of Shivane lodged a complaint at Warje police station that two suspects on a motorbike snatched her gold chain valued at Rs40,000 at Parvati Paytha on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, Yuvraj Kishor Nindaniya (21) lodged a complaint at Yerawada police station, saying two persons came and snatched his gold chain, valued at Rs13,000, on Wednesday. The Yerawada police have arrested two suspects, identified as Chetan Nagnath Helkar (21) and Prashant Suresh Sawant (24) of Yerawada in this case.

Three suspects snatched a gold chain valued at Rs80,000 and sped away on a motorcycle on Solapur Road on Wednesday. A complaint has been lodged by the victim, Priya Vicky Zende (20)  at Hadapsar police station.

The police are taking the help of the traffic department in the investigations. The cases will be investigated by an officer of the rank of police inspector (crime).

In 2010, as many as 240 incidents of chain snatching were reported, out of which the police solved 79 cases, which is just 33%. This year, till the third week of October about 180 such cases were registered in the city.

A police inspector attached to the city crime branch said, “To curb such crimes, the police carry out nakabandi in the city. The police have identified certain areas and intensified patrolling there.”
He said areas like Yerawada and Hadapsar are some of  vulnerable localities where suspects can easily flee to rural parts of the district.