Mangalsutra snatcher nabbed after long, filmy style chase

PONDA: In what appeared to be a dramatic scene from a Bollywood thriller, a police team along with a group of locals nabbed a member of a Pune-based gang while three others managed to flee after the gang snatched a mangalsutra from a woman at Ponda on Friday.
The ‘Irani’ gang had been operating in Goa and would allegedly snatch chains by posing as policemen.
On Friday noon, some members of the gang snatched the mangalsutra from the woman at a busy spot near the centrally-located Kurtakar Arcade at Ponda and fled from the site.
However, the woman screamed and alerted the locals. A police team in the area and some onlookers immediately responded to the woman’s cries for help and chased the gang for nearly half-an-hour and finally nabbed a gang member about 10 kms away.
Nadar Changez (30) from Pune was given a sound thrashing by an irate mob, before he was handed over
to the police.
“The gang of four members reached Mapusa from Maharashtra on Thursday and immediately, all four of them went to Margao on two motorcycles, which were rented from Mapusa. They snatched a chain worth Rs 1 lakh from a woman at Fatorda at about 11.30 pm,” said Ponda PI C L Patil.
“The gang later moved towards Ponda on the two motorcycles and a pillion rider on one motorcycle snatched the chain of Suhasin Naik (48), who had gone to the Kurtarkar Arcade at Ponda for some work.”
“As Naik raised an alarm, the traffic police, locals and Ponda police started chasing two chain snatchers, who were fleeing towards Panjim, while their two other accomplices fled in a different direction,” PI Patil added.
The Ponda police then alerted their counterparts at Kundaim, who intercepted the duo at the Tapobumi road near the Kundaim Industrial Estate.
Noticing a police jeep proceeding in their direction, the two chain snatchers fleeing on the motorcycle tried to reverse and escape towards Ponda, but they noticed that the Ponda police were approaching them from the Ponda side.
Left with no option, the duo managed to escape towards Mardol. They abandoned the motorcycle and hurriedly boarded a bus proceeding towards Panjim.
However, the alert police intercepted the bus and anticipating an arrest, both the accused jumped off the bus at a stop in Kundaim.
While one of them managed to escape, the other sustained injuries during the jump. He was immediately nabbed by an irate mob and was given a sound thrashing, before being handed over to the police.
According to police, the gang is also involved in other chain snatching incidents elsewhere in the State. Ponda police have seized the rented motorcycle and has also recovered the mangalsutra snatched at Fatorda. PI Patil is investigating the case and police is on lookout for the other three accused.