A gang of chain snatchers which was terrorizing Vadodara for two years has been caught by the crime branch of Vadodara police. Manish Patel, Jitendra Kakadiya, Bhaumik Trivedi, and the goldsmith Himatsingh Rajput have been brought into police custody.
The police have recovered stolen items worth around 6 lakhs 17 thousand from their loot. The gang is responsible for more than 13 incidents of chain-snatching in the city.
All the members of the gang have a rap sheet from previous offenses. Manish Patel and Jitendra had been arrested previously on murder charges, while Bhaumik Trivedi is an expert at stealing vehicles and has been behind bars several times before.
All the three are aged between 30 to 35 and have other day jobs. Manish used to work as a carpenter, Bhaumik used to work in Kotak Securities, and Jitendra used to work as a share trader. The goldsmith Himatsingh has a shop near Manekchowk in Ahmedabad.
All the gang members are not residents of Vadodara and used to visit the city for the express purpose of chain snatching from Ahmedabad and Nadiad.
Their modus operandi was approaching single women on the street in the afternoon under the pretext of asking for directions on a two-wheeler.
The gang had been terrorizing Vadodara since the last 2 years. A special squad had been set up to take care of chain snatching gangs, and the police had been gathering CCTV footage since the last six months to nab the culprits.
