Three held for mobile theft, chain snatching

Jamshedpur: Bistupur police on Wednesday arrested three members of a mobile and chain-snatching gang. Bistupur police station OC Bishnu Kumar Raut said Nandan Patnaik alias Chotu, Subham Kumar Sharma ailas Babu, and Aditya Kumar Tiwary alias Pandit were picked up from their residences. A gold chain, six expensive mobile phone handsets, and a bike were seized from them.
The OC said when Sonari resident Bishnu Kumar was talking on his cell phone at Jubilee Park on Monday, bike-borne miscreants snatched his mobile and fled away. Police are investigating if other persons are involved with the trio. The three, in their late twenties, were named in theft and fraud cases registered in police stations since 2018. They were found absconding in the earlier cases registered against them, police added.
Notably, chain and mobile-snatching cases have shot up after the Covid-induced lockdown has been lifted. The bike-borne gangs target mostly senior citizens on morning walks in lonely areas. One Namita Sanyal (75) of Sonari lost her gold chain to a bike-borne gang in August 2021. She said the miscreants pushed her while fleeing. She fell down and broke her right arm and also received head injuries. She had to undergo a major surgery and was hospitalised for three weeks.