Arrested chain snatcher owns 4 flats: cops

The chain snatcher Nagpada police arrested on Sunday was so good at what he did that he had managed to buy four flats — two in Mumbai (Dongri and Mumbra) and two in Delhi — and an SUV.

The chain snatcher Nagpada police arrested on Sunday was so good at what he did that he had managed to buy four flats — two in Mumbai (Dongri and Mumbra) and two in Delhi — and an SUV.

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Naushad Qureshi, 38, was known as the ‘machine’ because he recruited youth and trained them to be chain snatchers. He has more than 70 cases of chain snatching registered in Mumbai and surrounding areas, and the Delhi police, too, have been looking for him for the last three years.

The Nagpada police arrested him after they received a tip-off that he would come to Mumbai Central railway station to take a train to Delhi. When the police reached the police station with him and his SUV, the accused tried to escape in his car, even though there was a police constable with him in it. He said he would park the car inside the premises, after which the constable got down and Qureshi suddenly took a reverse turn.

When questioned, Qureshi revealed that he had been operating for the last 20 years in Mumbai, and had amassed a considerable fortune from his chain-snatchings.

Vinayak Sawade, senior inspector of Nagpada police station, said, “He used to operate throughout Mumbai city and the suburbs and we suspect that he has at least 10 people working under him. We are still getting details about his recruits”.

Those working for Qureshi would give him the chains they snatched. He would then give them a share of the money made from the theft.

Qureshi has three wives, who live in the apartments he owns. Sawade said he stays with one of his wives in a flat he owns in Kausa, Mumbra. The other flat is in Dongri. Police are yet to find out the location of his flats in Delhi. The police said that the accused was on the run after securing bail a few months ago.

Chain snatcher involved in 23 cases held

Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai crime branch, who on July 3 arrested Vishwas Mhaskar, a chain snatcher, said he had confessed to being involved in 23 chain snatching incidents along with his accomplice. Police have recovered 300 gm of gold ornaments worth Rs. 5,62,000.

DCP (Crime) Shrikant Pathak said, “We received a tip off about Vishwas Mhaskar and his accomplice Shatrun Bhopi snatching chains in Panvel and Kalamboli on a motorcycle.” Mhaskar was then arrested and confessed to the police.
- G Mohiuddin Jeddy

Also wanted in Delhi

Naushad Qureshi, 38, said when questioned that he had been operating in Mumbai for the last 20 years, during which time he bought two flats in Mumbai, and two in Delhi. He would recruit youth and train them to snatch chains, and would share with them the money he made from the theft

The Delhi police have also been on the lookout for him for the past three years, and Nagpada police are now in the process of getting details of his crime record in Delhi