Udupi police end three month chain snatching spree of youth

UDUPI: Teams of district police on Sunday ended a three-month solo run of a chain snatcher and detected nine cases, including seven in the district and two in Mangaluru city police limits.
Police recovered 172 grams of gold jewellery, three motorcycles used by the accused – Chandrashekar, 25, resident of Alva Compound, Mulithithlu in Mangaluru valued at Rs 9.38-lakh.Police have also seized the three motorcycles used by him.
A team headed by Manjappa D R, police inspector, district crime intelligence bureau spotted a person astride a scooter resembling a suspect captured in CCTV and wanted in connection with the chain snatching cases coming towards Diana Junction from Alevoor. The team intercepted him at Kukkikatte. When questioned about documents of the vehicle, the accused admitted he had rented the vehicle from a second-hand vehicle shop in Mangaluru.
Making the shop owner believe that he was taking the vehicle for a test ride, Chandrashekar ended up using it to indulge in chain snatching wherein he targeted lone women walking in dimly-lit streets in and around Udupi and other places in Mangaluru, superintendent of police N Vishnuvardhan told reporters here on Tuesday.
“His victims were random and prima facie there appears to be no evidence he recced the area before striking,” the SP said.
The arrest has led to the detection of four cases reported in Udupi town police station limits, two in Manipal and one each in Padubidri in the district and Mulki and Mangaluru East PS limits in Mangaluru city police limits respectively. He was involved in four cases of chain snatching reported in one day in December, Vishnuvardhan said. “We are probing his antecedents to verify if he has other criminal history besides these cases,” SP said.
On-going investigation will probe how he managed to obtain vehicles for test drive at Barke and Kankanady town PS in Mangaluru and at Manipal PS limits in Udupi. The accused who had completed a staff nurse training course was on the lookout for a job and was confined to home during the lockdown. Manjunath, CPI, Udupi is probing his past crimes, if any, SP said, adding he is an accused in a house theft case in Mangaluru South PS limits.
Lauding the arrest to diligent hard work by Manjunath, Manjappa and Manjunath M, PI, Manipal PS and their staff, Vishnuvardhan said Kumarchandra, additional SP, T R Jaishankar and Bharath Reddy, DSPs, Udupi and Karkala respectively pursued every minute clues to track down the accused. He appealed to women to avoid lonely places and one without proper lighting while walking alone and not to wear jewellery in such cases.