Mumbai Crime: Police arrest two chain snatchers

Borivali police have arrested two chain snatchers (third and fourth from left) who are also involved in two other cases

The crime spree of two young men, including a 18-year-old, to fund their drug addiction was cut short by the Borivali police which nabbed them on Saturday. The duo arrested by the police have been identified as Narayan Raju Parmar, 21 and Akash Vivek Singh, 18. They are allegedly involved in three cases - chain snatching, theft and cheating.

According to the police sources, a case of chain snatching was reported on October 7, followed by a cheating case on October 18. These cases were investigated under the supervision of DCP Ajaykumar Bansal, by senior police inspector Ninad Sawant, police sub-inspector Indrajeet Patil and members of the detection team.

"A 62-year-old woman had visited an exhibition with her friend. While returning to her car that was parked near Aditya College, the two men snatched her gold chain and fled," said a police officer. The police didn't get any lead from the CCTV footage in the area.

However, with the help of an informant, they zeroed in on a suspect as Parmar who had previously been arrested by MHB police for chain snatching. Parmar was apprehended from Barotpada, Borivali Shimpoli. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and revealed that Singh was an accomplice in the chain snatching incident. Interestingly, Singh had just turned 18 on October 2, while he and Parmar had committed their first crime together on October 6.

Police investigation revealed that the duo had committed one case of cheating and another case of theft. While pretending to ask for directions, they had slyly relieved a 36-year-old woman of her gold chain, at Babai Naka in Borivali on October 17.

The victims have positively identified the accused persons. The police are yet to recover the stolen material from them. They were presented before the court today and have been remanded to police custody till October 25.