Last Saturday, Sayali Mullick (41) was riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by her husband. At Andheri (E), another bike came close to theirs, its pillion rider snatched Mullick’s gold necklace worth Rs 1.3 lakh, and sped off.
Octogenarian Diwali Jain was walking to a temple close to her Borivli home at 6.30am on August 4 when she was robbed. An auto with two men in the passenger seat neared her; one of them leaned out and wrenched from her neck a gold chain worth Rs 50,000. The jolt made Jain lose her balance and she sustained a leg fracture in the fall.
The two offences assume a graver complexion when seen from a longer perspective. A recent report of the Mumbai police shows that gold necklaces and mangalsutras worth Rs 45.1 crore have been stolen in chain-snatchings since 2008.
In the first seven months of 2013 alone, the report says, criminals snatched valuables worth Rs 7.3 crore. By comparison, in all of 2012, necklaces worth 12.7 crore were purloined.
“Chain-snatchers are usually found to be in the 20-25 age group. These youths are drawn to a rich lifestyle and in order to achieve it they adopt what they see as a short cut,” explained former Thane police commissioner S P S Yadav.
The police registered more than 9,800 cases of chain-snatchings in Mumbai from 2008 to July this year; but they were able to detect only about 40% or 3,950 of them. Of the total valuables worth Rs 45.1 crore that were stolen in the five and a half years, the police were able to recover just Rs 9.3 crore. The recovery figure from January to July 31 this year was just Rs 1.1 crore.
The police report reveals that chain-snatchings were most rampant in the Bandra to Versova zone (Rs 6.4 crore worth of necklaces stolen in the five and a half years), followed by Dindoshi to Kasturba Marg (Rs 5.5 crore), Malvani to Kandivli (Rs 5.2 crore), and Kalachowkie to Wadala TT (Rs 5.1 crore).
Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Satyanarayan Choudhary said the force is constantly taking steps to check chain-snatchings: special squads are deployed at vulnerable spots and plain-clothes policewomen sent as decoys. “We have built a database of jewellers found buying stolen property from chain-snatchers. This has 100 names,” said Choudhary. “To create a deterrent, we also charge the jewellers who receive stolen property under section 411 of the Indian Penal Code.”
“Many jewellers purchase stolen gold ornaments at 30-40% of the market price and melt it quickly to avoid police scrutiny,” said lawyer Y P Singh.
Less than half of chain-snatching cases detected even in best of police regions
Arrests highest in north and west belts: Report
The north and west regions of Mumbai are the best when it comes to detection of chain-snatching cases, a recent report of the police says.
The north region—from Malvani to Kasturba Marg—had 2,489 instances of chain snatching from 2008 to July 31 this year and the police succeeded in solving 47% or 1,176 of them. The next best record was of the west region (from Bandra to Powai), with 41% detection (2,547 cases registered and 1,062 cases solved). In the south, east and central regions of Mumbai, the detection-to-crime ratio was around one to three, says the police report.
The police in the north region made the most arrests in chain-snatching cases (1,516), followed by the force in the west region (1,287) and the central region (1,115).
Additional commissioner of police (west region) Vishwas Nangre Patil said that many measures are being taken to reduce chain-snatchings. Among these is a “three-tier patrolling system”, wherein police vans are parked on main roads while cops make the rounds of smaller roads and streets. Furthermore, logbooks are placed at 48 spots in the area falling under every police station; cops on duty are required to sign in one of these logbooks every two hours.
“We bring chain-snatchers to meetings of officers from various areas to identify if they are also wanted for the crime elsewhere. If their role in chain-snatching cases is established in various places, their chances of getting bail gets reduced,” said Patil.
Former Thane police chief S P S Yadav said the way to really curb the menace is by making it harder for the accused to get bail. For this, Yadav said, the accused should be booked under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act since the offence of chain snatching is often violent. “The application of IPC section 392 ( robbery) sends the accused into custody for at least three months. To make bail even tougher, section 441(A) (verifying the bond or surety whereabouts) of the Criminal Procedure Code should also be applied,” said Yadav. “It has often been seen that the person standing surety for the accused is a habitual offender. His job is to stand surety without knowing the accused; in return he gets money.”
Most offences in Bandra-Versova belt
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-14/mumbai/43025747_1_gold-chain-worth-rs-chain-snatchings-crore
