Bengaluru: The Kodigehalli police have arrested three members of the notorious Irani gang who were involved in 20 cases, including 18 chain-snatchings, in the city.
The arrested have been identified as Karar Hussain Syed alias Hussiani, 36, of J. C. Nagar, Sarfaraz alias Shetty, 45, of Frazer Town, and Mohammed Syed Ali, of Irani Colony in Kalaburagi.
The police said that there were repeated chain-snatching incidents in Kodigehalli, Yalahanka, Yelahanka Satellite Town, Vidyaranyapura, Amruthahalli and Kothanur police station limits. Bike-borne men, who accosted women on morning walk on the pretext of enquiring for address, used to snatch their gold chain and escape. A team worked on the case and gathered information about the accused and caught them.
“Karar and Sarfaraz were arrested first. Based on their information, Syed Ali, who was an under-trial prisoner in Kalaburagi jail, was taken into police custody after getting his body warrant from court,” said the police.
“When they were questioned, they confessed that they hailed from Mumbai and were members of Irani gang. They had snatched 18 chains and lifted two bikes,” added the police.
Accused Karar was involved in 25 chain-snatching cases in Mumbai and the Mumbai city police had invoked Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against him three years ago. But he had gone underground and moved base to Bengaluru.
The police have recovered valuables worth Rs 20 lakh, including 620 gm of gold chains and two Pulsar bikes used to commit the offences.
