Kuldeep Kumar R Jain (2nd from Right), Commissioner of Police speaking in a press conference at his office in Mangaluru on June 15, 2023.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
City Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R. Jain on Monday, June 26, said the Surathkal Police have cracked nine cases of chain snatching and four cases of two-wheeler theft while recovering stolen valuables worth nearly ₹14 lakh with the arrest of two persons.
Mr. Jain gave the names of the accused as Habib Hassan alias Chombugudde Habib, resident of Marnemajalu in Bantwal taluk, who has 35 cases of chain snatching and other offences registered against him in police stations of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, and Mohammed Faizal alias Kodi Faizal, resident of Kodi-Ullal, who has 15 cases of chain snatching registered against him. They were arrested on June 23 and a jurisdictional court had remanded the accused to 14 days judicial custody on June 24.
The Commissioner told reporters here that the breakthrough came during the investigation of a chain snatching case reported from Pushpavathi, 75, of Tadambail in Surathkal police limits on June 2. Two motorcycle-borne miscreants had snatched her gold chain worth ₹1.25 lakh when she was drawing water from the well of her house early on June 2 morning. Mr. Jain constituted a special team headed by Surathkal Police Inspector Mahesh Prasad to investigate the case. The team arrested the accused at Kodippadi on June 23 when they attempted to run away from the police picket team.
14 cases cracked
Besides recovering the gold chain stolen from Ms. Pushpavathi, police also cracked two each cases of chain snatching reported from Kukkundur in Karkala town police limits, and Jakribettu and Pachchinadka in Bantwal town PS, one each from Tunduballe in Shirva PS, Parkala in Manipal PS, Padumarnad in Moodbidri PS and Mundkur in Karkala rural police limits. Police also cracked two-wheeler theft cases reported from Keerthinagara in Moodbidri PS, Malemar in Kavoor PS, Mallikatte in Mangaluru East PS and Shivalli in Manipal police limits.
While Habib Hassan was out on bail from the Mangaluru prison on March 9, Mohammed Faizal was released from Karwar prison after serving the sentence in a case reported by Konaje police on April 1, 2022.
The recovered jewellery was worth ₹12,48,550 while the two-wheelers were worth ₹1.34 lakh. Mr. Jain announced a cash reward of ₹8,000 to the investigation team.