Gold chains, ornaments weighing one kg worth Rs. 50 lakh seized

Mysuru: Police gained an upper hand over chain-snatchers this Dasara as 10 notorious inter-district chain-snatchers have been nabbed by the City Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths. Over 25 gold chains and gold ornaments weighing one kilogram have been seized from them. Six of the accused are blood relatives.

Addressing a press conference at his office this morning, City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta said that two minors too were involved in the cases and as such, their identities have been kept confidential.

“After obtaining permission from the Court of Law, several ornaments were returned to their original owners and the process of returning other valuables has started,” the Commissioner said.

As several incidents of chain-snatchings were reported in the city, terrorising women who walk on lonely stretches and even women who are in crowded places, teams were formed to nab the criminals. As some of the cases had inter-district ramifications, the cases were handed over to the CCB, he said.

Along with the gold and other valuables, seven two-wheelers used for the crime have been seized from the accused. The accused have been identified as Gopal, Chandan alias Chandu, Ramesh, Soorappa alias Soori, Vrithik, Rangaswamy alias Baddappa and Manju alias Bili Manja alias Kalla Manja.

With the arrests, two cases each from Nazarbad Police Station, V.V. Puram, Alanahalli and Hebbal, one case each from Narasimharaja, Ashokapuram, Krishnaraja, Kaulande (District limits) and Lakshmipuram, three cases from Vijayanagar, four cases each from Kuvempunagar and Saraswathipuram have been cracked. In addition, one case registered at Chamarajanagar Rural Police Station and one more from Channarayapatna in Hassan have been solved.

One more person who was involved in house burglary has been arrested and 70 grams of ornaments have been recovered from him.

The Commissioner said that one of the accused who has been arrested now was involved in 27 chain-snatching cases in the past and one more accused was a part of four cases that were booked earlier.

 “These are professional chain-snatchers and are out on bail in various other cases. They have continued their criminal activities even after being arrested and jailed. Six of the accused are blood relatives having their roots in Chamarajanagar and they have been living at Hebbal and Devayyanahundi since many years. Predominantly, they worked as masons and security guards so as to not arouse suspicion,” Dr. Chandragupta said.

 Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) Geetha Prasanna, CCB ACP C.K. Ashwathnarayan led the operations. Inspector G. Shekhar, ASI Asghar Khan and M.R. Ganesh and staff were leading the teams.