Notorious chain snatcher from Hyderabad nabbed in Chennai

After a hunt that involved travelling hundreds of kilometres, combing footage from dozens of CCTV cameras, monitoring call records of mobile phones, searching more than 100 lodges and keeping vigil on the road for more than a week, a special team of the city police finally managed to arrest a notorious chain snatcher from Maharashtra who had struck multiple times in and around Anna Nagar since December.

The man, identified as Amol Bala Saheb Shinde alias Amol (29) of Parbhani of Maharashtra, has more than 30 cases pending against him in Hyderabad and a few in Uttar Pradesh, the police said. The special team formed by the Tirumangalam police finally managed to arrest the accused with the help of inputs from police from four states — Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

After three chain snatching incidents were reported in Anna Nagar on December 16, 19 and 29, the Tirumangalam police formed a special team to track and arrest the offender. Using his image captured by CCTV cameras at the spot of crime, the police forces of Maharashtra and Telangana identified him as Amol.

Even as the police officials were trying to nab him, Amol returned to the city to strike again on February 1. Following this, the hunt for him was intensified.

According to an official, the special team travelled around 2,000 kilometres, combed footage from more than 60 CCTV cameras, monitored the call records of about 20 mobile phone numbers, checked over a 100 lodges in the city and carried out vehicle check for 10 days at a stretch to nab the accused.

Their efforts finally paid off on Sunday when Amol was secured during a vehicle check. Investigation revealed that the bike he used while snatching chains in Chennai was stolen from Hyderabad.

A pressnote issued earlier by the Cyberabad police had stated that Amol, a Class 10 pass out, chooses new towns based on information he receives from prison mates. Similarly, the investigation by the city police revealed that Amol was briefed about Anna Nagar in Chennai by his fellow inmates when he was lodged in Hyderabad prison where he had been remanded for offences he committed there.

“He stayed in the lodges and used the bike registered in Andhra Pradesh to carry out snatchings before fleeing back to Maharashtra by flight or train,” said police sources. As much as 20 sovereigns of jewels and a two-wheeler was seized from Amol, who was remanded in judicial custody.

“He worked as a driver and started committing offences since 2013 for easy money to spend lavishly,” said the police.