PUNE: Three persons have been arrested by the Wakad police for their alleged involvement in chain snatching and robbery cases. Police claimed to have recovered 410 gram gold ornaments worth Rs 16.33 lakh, which were stolen in eight incidents.
Acting on a tip-off received by PSI Harish Mane, a team went to Madhya Pradesh and nabbed the accused persons identified as Vijay alias Chhalya Gopinath Chavan (48) of Ahmednagar, Govind Ladu Kale (28) and Shiva Kisan Pawar (27), both residents of Jalna. They had been living in Gulgaon in Raisen district in Madhya Pradesh. After being arrested there in a dacoity case, Wakad police station got their custody.
Additional CP Pradip Deshpande said, “The accused used to target women near wedding halls after conducting a recce. They used to come from Shrirampur in a four-wheeler and then used two-wheelers for chain snatching in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.”
According to police, Chhalya is the ringleader of the gang. He has been staying with his second wife in Madhya Pradesh. Between 2013 and 2016, he lived in Dehu Road under the pseudo name of ‘Bhaskar’. His gang was also active in South Indian states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh besides Goa, Ahmednagar and Pune districts.
DCP (Zone 3) Ganesh Shinde supervised the investigation team, which included Senior Police Inspector Satish Mane, Inspector Sunil Pinjan and detection branch team members. Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla has announced a reward for the team.
