BENGALURU: Members of a chain snatching gang from Uttar Pradesh, who were arrested in the city on Wednesday, reportedly told police that they came to Silicon Valley because of slim pickings in their hometown, as most women there wore low-cost artificial jewellery.
The notorious Bawaria gang has years of experience in chain snatching in UP. After coming to Bengaluru they snatched 30 gold chains and were jubilant when they found that all of them were real. However their luck ran out on Wednesday, when five of the gang members were caught by the Mico Layout police and stolen jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh was recovered. “We have recovered 15 gold chains, totally weighing 678 gm, and cracked 30 cases reported in different police stations in the city. Two more people of the gang are on the run and will be nabbed soon,” said T Suneel Kumar. city police commissioner, at a press meet here on Thursday. The accused have been identified as Jayaprakash (22), Nithin Kumar (21), Jitendra (22), Kapil Kumar (25) and Nanda Kishore (33), all natives of Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh and belonged to Bawaria community.
The accused started their career with thefts in railway stations, robberies, dacoities and selling spurious liquor, before taking chain snatching in Shamli district. But they soon realized their efforts were not worthwhile. They stole about 50 chains and found only two were real gold ones. Hence they set sights on metropolitan cities to try their luck. They made sure they have a presence in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai.
While the other gangs would leave for their designated cities, this five-member-gang would arrive on flight to Bengaluru, rent temporary houses in the area with middle-class population, commit chain snatching on stolen bikes and fly back to their hometown to sell off the loot, the police said. The gang used to return to Bengaluru thrice a month to commit chain snatchings. One of the accused, Jayaprakash, is their leader and an expert in chain snatching. According to police, he was alone involved in more than 20 cases of chain snatching reported in last three months. The arrests happened after he was picked him in connection with a chain snatching in Kengeri recently. According to police, he was involved in two-wheeler thefts in Karnal in Haryana and was recently released on bail. He is also involved in chain snatchings in Delhi and Haryana.
