Police rescue chain snatcher from mob

A chain snatcher will be grateful to the police for arresting him and putting an end to the beating from an angry mob after he stole a woman’s chain.

A chain snatcher will be grateful to the police for arresting him and putting an end to the beating from an angry mob after he stole a woman’s chain.

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On October 9, Charuta Surve, 59, a resident of Bhoiwada, was returning from Hinduja Hospital after a diabetes checkup. She was near Mahim fire brigade office, when Faizan Qureshi, 25, spotted her.

Qureshi, who has been externed for two years from the city, was sitting between two cars with his face covered with a handkerchief. He allegedly attacked her from behind and snatched her chain, said inspector Vinay Kulkarni from Mahim police station.

The victim raised an alarm and alerted the firemen standing nearby. “The officers chased the thief, but could not nab him. They then alerted the passers-by,” said Kulkarni.

When Qureshi was about to climb the compound wall of Sheetal Chhaya building, the crowd pulled him down and began beating him.

At that time the official vehicle of the Mahim assistant commissioner of police passed by “The ACP’s orderly spotted the crowd hitting a man. The constable saved the thief and handed him over to the Mahim police,” said Kulkarni.

However, by then the victim had left the spot. “We went to hospital to get her address. We then went to her house and convinced her to lodge a complaint,” Kulkarni said.

When asked whether the mob would be booked for lynching, Kulkarni said they would look into it. Qureshi has six cases of robbery against him.