Hyderabad police arrest chain snatcher, Rs 3.5L property seized

The accused had accumulated substantial debts from family and friends after suffering severe losses in online cricket betting

Hyderabad: In a joint operation, the Charminar Zone Task Force and Saidabad police apprehended a chain snatcher on Sunday, November 1, and recovered stolen property valued at approximately Rs 3.50 lakh.

Police seized a stolen gold chain weighing 17.16 grams along with a two-wheeler used during the commission of the crime.

The accused Mohammed Ghouse Pasha alias Ghouse snatched the chain from an elderly woman at Bank Colony, Venture 1, Gaddiannaram in Saidabad.

Driven by mounting cricket betting debts, the 28-year-old bike mechanic turned to chain snatching before he was tracked down and arrested. A resident of Balapur, the accused Ghouse worked at a mechanic shop near Ali Cafe X-Roads in Amberpet.

He had accumulated substantial debts from family and friends after suffering severe losses in online cricket betting, police said. Pressured by lenders and unable to clear his debts with his regular income, Ghouse hatched a plan to commit thefts across the city.

On October 26, Ghouse took a customer’s motorcycle from his shop under the pretext of testing it and roamed through Amberpet and Dabeerpura, searching for potential targets. He spotted an elderly woman wearing a gold chain near the Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple on Gaddiannaram Road and followed her into a quiet lane.

Ghouse snatched her 17.16-gram gold chain and fled on the motorcycle and concealed both the stolen property and the vehicle at his repair shop, intending to sell them later.

Using technical intelligence, the Saidabad Police and the Task Force nabbed Ghouse at SBI Colony and recovered stolen gold as well as the vehicle.