Snatcher who thanked his victims after robbing them held

Police have arrested a suspected snatcher who allegedly robbed at least 45 persons of their valuables and fled after bidding them “thank you” and “goodbye”

Police have arrested a suspected snatcher who allegedly robbed at least 45 persons of their valuables and fled after bidding them “thank you” and “goodbye”.

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Police identified the snatcher as Ashish, who goes by a single name, and said he was released from jail two months ago and was mostly active in in Dwarka and its surrounding neighbourhoods.

Explaining his modus operandi, police said he would stop his motorcycle a few metres from his victims after snatching their valuables, and would flee only after politely thanking them, said Santosh Meena, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka).

Another police officer, not authorised to speak to the media, said that Ashish did this to have a “distinct style” from the rest of the snatchers.

“Since he was taking something from his victims, he told us that he wanted to be courteous as most of his victims were women,” said the officer.

Ashish operated with a partner on a red motorcycle. His partner remains on the run, but has been identified, the police said.

The DCP said that since early May, there were a spate of snatching in Dwarka and its surrounding neighbourhoods such as Bindapur and Begumpur.

As the police began investigating the snatchings, they learnt that several victims described the snatcher in the same manner.

“After snatching a gold chain or some other valuable from a victim, the snatchers would halt the motorcycle a little ahead and Ashish would then turn around to say a thank you and goodbye to the victim, who would by then be chasing after them, before riding away,” the second officer said.

Police used CCTV footage from multiple crime scenes to finally zero in on the registration number plate of the motorcycle, but the vehicle was found to be a stolen one.

Eventually, the police were able to traced one of the suspects, Ashish, to his cousin’s home in Dabri, from where he was arrested on Sunday.

At his instance, the police also arrested one Abhinash Lal, who allegedly received the stolen gold items. “He also gave a few chains to his mother and cousin sister. We are trying to recover them,” the officer said.