14 February,2014 07:04 AM IST | | Salil Urunkar
Accused of committing over 20 offences in the city, cops recovered 523 g of gold from their possession; accused mostly targeted female pedestrians in Anandnagar, Swargate and on Sinhagad Road
The Dattawadi police station officials busted a gang of five youths, allegedly involved in more than 20 offences of chain snatchings in the city. A total of 532 grams of gold was recovered from the accused.
In the bag: Dattawadi police station officials show the gold jewellery they recovered from the accused; (below) Nikhil Jaiswal, Ajay Makar and Sunil Sinh have been held
They were identified as Nikhil Kamlesh Jaiswal (21) from Shivshankar society on Sinhagad Road, Ajay Bajirao Makar (21) from Dhayari, Sunil Shriharilal Sinh (20) from Tulshibaug, Ganesh Ramling Kapse (19) from Indiranagar, and Sonu Kamlakar Pandit alias Nilesh from Wadgaon Budruk. While Jaiswal, Makar and Sinh are in police custody, Kapse and Pandit were given judicial custody.
Acting on a tip-off, Constable Manoj Kudale, Raghunath Jadhav, Rajeshwar Rajput, Ramchandra Pawar, Tanaji Nikam, Ganesh Sutar, Ashok Gavali, Navnath Mohite and Nilesh Jamdade laid a trap near Wadgaon bus stop on February 5 and nabbed Jaiswal, Makar and Sinh. The trio named Kapse and Pandit as their accomplices during interrogation, following which the duo was arrested.
While Jaiswal owns a shop on Laxmi Road, Makar and Sinh work for a caterer and at a lodge in Mandai. Pandit's father is a jeweller. All five are school dropouts.
Inspector Satish Govekar from Dattawadi police station said, "The suspects first met in Tulshibaug, which later become their permanent meeting point. They planned to snatch chain, as they considered it to be an easy job to make quick money. They used stolen bike to commit crimes. The suspects don't have any past criminal record. They used to target women on Sinhagad Road, Anandnagar and Swargate. Investigation has revealed their involvement in over 20 offences since 2013."
