Going for a morning walk? Beware, chain snatchers on the prowl

In the last four days, Navi Mumbai reported as many as five chain-snatching incidents, all of them involving morning walkers

Navi Mumbai: 62-year-old Badrinath Durvasula, a resident of sector 17, Vashi was out for his routine morning walk on Monday at 6.45am. During the walk, he met his friend and stopped by for a brief chat. Within seconds, two men riding a bike came near him and the pillion rider snatched his gold chain worth ₹88,000.

Chain-snatchers have been on the prowl in Navi Mumbai for the past few days (HT)

“It is in all probability that the thieves noticed the chain inside my t-shirt and followed me around. They were wearing helmets and full raincoats. Also, they were riding a bike with a broken number plate, so there was no way I could identify them,” said Durvasula, who has been residing in Vashi for 30 years.

In the last four days, Navi Mumbai reported as many as five chain-snatching incidents, all of them involving morning walkers. These incidents were reported from Vashi, Koparkhairane, Sanpada (zone 1), Taloja and Kamothe (zone 2).

The Navi Mumbai police chief has given directives to the deputy commissioner of police, assistant commissioner of police and senior police inspectors across the city to be on road nakabandi in the morning hours.

“Chain-snatchers have been on the prowl in Navi Mumbai for the past few days, and it has been found that these robbers are targeting senior citizens and women who are out for a morning walk. Therefore, to arrest them, all the police stations of Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate have been asked to impose a nakabandi from 5am to 8am and investigation of suspicious vehicles has also been started,” a senior police inspector from Navi Mumbai, said.

Senior police inspector and police inspector (crime) of each police station have also been asked to click a selfie and post in their WhatsApp group to confirm their presence during the nakabandi.

“We do suspect that the accused in every case is the same and we are looking for them. We are hopeful that soon we would be able to nab them,” deputy commissioner of police, Zone I, Vivek Pansare, said.

“On Monday, three incidents were reported back-to-back in zone 1, and hence we decided to issue orders of immediate nakabandi at all police stations,” joint commissioner of police Jay Jadhav, said.

As per the orders, at least four points under each police station need to be covered and the DCPs or ACPs of the area need to keep visiting the points and make sure that the nakabandi is imposed.

“During the morning hours, when people come out for walking, the roads are relatively less crowded and hence, the accused target women and senior citizens. The nakabandi will continue till further orders,” a senior officer said.

Parallelly, a detection team is working on tracing the accused.

In six months from January to June this year, 87 chain-snatching crimes have been committed within the limits of Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate and only 28 of these crimes have been detected. In the first six months of the year 2021, 43 crimes were committed, out of which only 15 crimes were detected.