Pimpri Chinchwad: 20 Chain Snatching Cases Solved With Arrest Of 2 Robbers

Mehab Qureshi

Pimpri, December 29, 2020: In a joint operation, Pimpri Chinchwad Police Crime Branch’s anti-extortion cell and Chinchwad police station team arrested two notorious robbers for allegedly snatching gold chains of women coming out for morning and evening walks in Pimpri Chinchwad areas.

The duo has been identified as Prabhakar Yemanappa Dodmani (26), resident of Chinchwad, and Altaf Salim Sheikh (19), resident of Hadapsar.

This action was taken considering the increase in the number of chain snatching cases in Pimpri Chinchwad areas, said Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash.

Police inspected 170 CCTVs in Akurdi, Nigdi, Chinchwad, and Pimpri to catch these accused. Police set a trap for three consecutive days and arrested the accused. During interrogation, the accused confessed to snatching a Mangalsutra from the neck of a woman from Chinchwad while she was shopping for milk. They confessed to committing 20 crimes in total.

The probe revealed that the accused used a stolen two-wheeler for snatching gold chains and the accused committed a total of 20 offences including 15 chain thefts and 5 vehicle thefts. Of which,2 were under Pimpri police jurisdiction,5 in Chinchwad,4 in Nigdi, and many others in Wakad, Sangvi, Hinjewadi, and Chikhali areas.

Also, 3 cases of two-wheeler theft have been registered in Pimpri and Bhosari police stations. Among the arrested accused, Prabhakar Dodmani is on criminal record and has been booked in seven cases of robbery and vehicle theft in Pune city and Hubli, Gadag in Karnataka.

Police have seized 200 grams of gold jewellery worth Rs 10,00,000 and five two-wheelers worth Rs 2,60,000 were seized from them, in total 12,50,000 worth possession.

Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash said, “Gold chain snatchers had been rampant in the city for the past few days. The robbers targeted women who went for morning walks and those who went out in the evening. Therefore, we took special attention to catch the robbers.”

Senior Police Inspector Shriram Paul of the Anti-extortion cell had formed three squads and one from Chinchwad police station. Acting on information received by Police Naik Ashish Botke and Swapnil Shelar, the robbers were nabbed.

The action was taken under the guidance Deputy Commissioner of Police Sudhir Hiremath, Assistant Commissioner of Police RR Patil, and Prerna Katte. The team included Police Sub inspectors Mahendra Patil, Shakir Jinedi, and Ashok Dudhwane, Ganesh Hazare, Nishant Kale, Sunil Kangude, Kiran Katkar, Ashish Botke, Sandeep Patil, Shailesh Magar, Sudhir Dolas, Pradip Gutte, Shakur Tamboli, Ashok Gargote, Senior Police Inspector Vishwajeet Khule, Assistant Police Inspector Abhijeet Jadhav, Police offer Swapnil Shelar, Govind Doke, Vijaykumar Akhade.