Two thieves nabbed after chase through narrow bylanes, mangroves

Two thieves with 19 cases against them were arrested after a chase through narrow bylanes and mangroves in Mumbai. The duo was found to be involved in multiple theft and bike lifting cases. They are currently in police custody.

MUMBAI: Two thieves, who have at least 19 cases against them, were arrested after a chase through narrow bylanes and mangroves in the early hours of Wednesday.

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A police team on night patrolling duty in Oshiwara noticed two men on a motorcycle on Lokhandwala back road in Andheri West. Alerted by their suspicious movement, the police asked them to stop, however, the duo sped away.

Three plain-clothes policemen followed the duo on bikes for almost 10 kms through narrow bylanes and kutcha roads, repeatedly asking the two men to stop.

“When the duo reached near the Ganesh Visarjan point, their bike got stuck in the mud. They ran towards the swamp and vanished into the mangroves,” senior inspector Mohan Patil said. The police team also followed them into the maze of trees but lost sight of them thereafter, he added.

Meanwhile, another police team was standing on the other side of a wall that was the only way for the suspects to come out of the mangroves. The team waited there for the duo to emerge. “The two men, however, had another escape plan ready and jumped off the six-foot wall. They immediately sat in an autorickshaw, which was parked there and drove away. The police team on the bike pursued them again and stopped them around Swami Samarth circle in Lokhandwala and brought them to the police station,” Patil said.

The two men were later identified as Jalgaon resident Satveer Singh Taak, 21, and Versova resident Rohit Singh, 19.

At the station house, the two men were asked to produce papers of the bike, which turned out to be stolen. The two were arrested for the theft of the motorbike, which was reported stolen at Juhu police station.

It was found that the accused were involved in 19 cases of theft, housebreaking and bike lifting registered at various police stations in Mumbai, Akola and Jalgaon. The duo also confessed to being part of at least 10 other theft cases.

The accused were produced in a court on Wednesday and are currently in police custody.