Police chief concerned over chain snatchings in Pune

Concerned with the abnormal rise in the number of chain snatching incidents in the city in the last two days, city police chief Meeran Chadha-Borwankar has decided to personally look into the matter.

Borwankar has begun supervising the action by the city crime branch after 10 chain snatching incidents were recorded in the last 48 hours. An official attached with the city crime branch told DNA that the police commissioner has issued instructions to the crime branch and deputy commissioner of police of every zone to bring the spate of chain snatching incidents under control.

The city crime branch along with the local police stations has conducted a combing operation in different areas of the city and interrogated history sheeters.

Assistant police commissioner (crime I) Vinod Satav told DNA that during the combing operation, the whereabouts of history sheeters were checked and pictures of habitual criminals were shown to complainants to identify the suspects. However, none of them were identified, he said.

The city police have formed dedicated teams to collect information about the chain snatchers. The crime branch officials are taking help of the traffic police while conducting the combing operation.

Satav said, “On Monday night, we conducted a combing operation in Nigdi. Deputy commissioner of police (zone III) Dnyaneshwar Chavan, three senior police inspectors and nine police sub-inspectors and about 100 policemen were involved in the operation,’’ he said, adding that, the drive will continue for some time.