New Year’s Eve bandobast nets double success

The Mahim police managed to solve a year-old bike theft case and a two-day old chain-snatching incident during routine questioning.

The Mahim police managed to solve a year-old bike theft case and a two-day old chain-snatching incident during routine questioning.

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The incident took place around 2.30am at LJ Road in Mahim when two policemen were patrolling the streets, as part of the police bandobast on New Year’s Eve. The policemen asked two youngsters on a Bajaj Pulsar bike to halt their motorbike for checking, said police.

“The two, however, panicked and tried to hurriedly drive past the policemen. The policemen chased them for a distance and overpowered the pillion rider. The other one managed to ride off on the bike,” said Bhagwan Kadam, assistant inspector of Mahim police station.

The accused, Mohammad Shahid Qureshi, 22, tried to convince the police that they were not trying to flee and had just panicked on seeing them.

Not inclined to believe the man, the policemen contacted the police control room to check and verify the registration number of the bike.

“The control room soon informed us that the bike had been stolen last year from the jurisdiction of the Mahim police station itself,” Kadam said. Qureshi was then brought to Mahim police station and interrogated for sometime.

“During interrogation, Qureshi not only confessed to stealing the bike but also told the police that using the same bike, he along with an accomplice, had snatched the gold chain of a woman from the Mahim area a day ago,” Kadam said. The police then recovered the stolen necklace from Qureshi.

The police later checked Qureshi’s record and found that he had been involved in other instances of chain snatching as well in the past. “We are now on the lookout for the main accused who was riding the bike. We have identified him and should be able to nab him soon,” Kadam said.