09 January,2016 07:30 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
The accused had swallowed the chain when he was caught red-handed by locals at Ghatkopar; four constables at Pant Nagar police station kept watch, while one filmed the delivery of the chain
A chain snatcher who was caught red-handed and thrashed black and blue by the locals will probably never try his hand at the crime again. Not because of the beating, but the 'treatment' he got from the the policemen who arrested him. The cops fed the thief four dozen bananas in an attempt to recover the ornament that he had swallowed.
Illustration/Uday Mohite
The Pant Nagar police arrested the 25-year-old chain snatcher identified as Gopi Ramesh Ghavre, who is a Wadala resident, and committed the crime for the first time. The incident took place on Wednesday around 8 pm, when Ghavre snatched the chain of a woman at a fish market in Ghatkopar East. The locals chased and nabbed him after the woman raised an alarm.
The accused confessed to swallowing the chain
Police Sub-Inspector Kailash Tirmare from Pant Nagar police station said, "After the locals got hold of the accused, they assaulted him. We were on patrolling duty when we spotted him. Ghavre's nose was bleeding, so we sent him to Rajawadi Hospital."
The cops then got an X-ray of the accused's stomach, which stated that there were 50% chances of some metal being there. "Till then, as the complainant hadn't approached the police station, we kept him at Rajawadi for observation. Later, on Thursday afternoon, the complainant arrived and we again got an X-ray of the accused's stomach and got him to the police station," added Tirmare.
The accused confessed to swallowing the chain, and the cops fed him four dozen bananas in the night to recover the ornament.
Cop says
Police Inspector Rajesh Kewle said, "He was constantly refusing, but we wanted to recover the gold chain as the complainant has bought it with her hard-earned money. We forced him to eat four dozen bananas so that the chain could be purged in the morning."
The next morning the accused had to relieve himself under the observation of four constables, one of whom filmed the act.
"The accused was asked to wash the chain with phenyle. He was arrested in the morning," said the officer.
The accused has been booked under Section 393 (attempt to commit robbery) of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in Vikhroli court on Friday and remanded in police custody.
