Three persons, including husband and wife, arrested for chain snatching in Oshiwara

Police have arrested a man, his wife and an auto-rickshaw driver for snatching a gold chain of a woman (61) at Lokhandwala in Mumbai’s Andheri (West) on Sunday.

Arrest-handcuffs.

At around 5 pm on Sunday, Jayshree Jain (61) had gone to buy vegetables near Maheshwari Bhavan at Lokhandwala in Andheri (West), when a man came from behind and snatched her gold chain worth Rs 65,500 and then fled in an auto-rickshaw, said Oshiwara police officials, who have registered a first information report (FIR) in the case.

The passersby, who had tried to chase the auto-rickshaw, had taken down the four digits of the vehicle’s registration number, said the police.

“We scanned CCTV (closed circuit TV) camera footage of that area and managed to get the missing digits of the vehicle’s registration number with the help of the traffic police personnel. Later, we tracked down and arrested the auto-rickshaw driver, Laxman Pujari (35),” said Kiran Pawar, assistant police inspector (API), Oshiwara police station.

Pujari gave details about the chain snatchers, Raju Das (31) and Lata Kale (40) , who are husband and wife, respectively. The couple was arrested on Monday evening, Pawar said.

Pujari told the police that he and Kale were waiting in the vehicle, while Das snatched the chain.

All the three accused are residents of Gazdhar Bandh area in Santacruz (West).

Dayanand Bangar, senior police inspector, Oshiwara police station, said,” Pujari has seven cases of theft, burglary and chain snatching registered against him at various police stations in Mumbai. However, we have not found any criminal record against Das and Kale until now.”

The accused will be produced before a local court later in the day.