Police open fire at knife-wielding chain-snatcher, arrest him

He is involved in more than 100 chain snatching cases in and around the state; used to target women walking alone at nearby parks and outside their houses.

BENGALURU: In a joint operation, Kengeri and Jnanabharathi police on Monday opened fire at a notorious chain-snatcher while arresting him as he tried to escape. The accused allegedly attacked a head constable in a bid to escape before he was brought to the police station. He was involved in more than 100 chain-snatching cases in and around the state, the police said.

Head constable Chandrashekar
Head constable Chandrashekar

A senior police officer said the arrested has been identified as, Achuthkumar Gani (31), a resident of Kumbalgodu, who was spotted at Jnanabharathi on a bike on Sunday night. Chandrakumar, a head constable from Jnanabharathi found the biker’s behaviour suspicious and followed him for a while. Chandrakumar hit his bike from behind, and forced him to lose balance and fall. Then, he alerted the beat police and caught him. Gani, who noticed the group of policemen, diverted Chandrashekhar’s attention and attacked him with a knife in a bid to escape. Finally after a chase, he was nabbed and brought to Jnanabharathi police station for interrogation.

“Around 2.30 am, Gani was taken to Kumbalgodu police station after he confessed that he was involved in a series of chain-snatching incidents, in which he targeted women walking alone at nearby parks and outside their houses. Meanwhile, Gani gave a slip to the police on the pretext of answering nature’s call. Senior police officers formed an eight-member special team and around 5:45 am, Kengeri police spotted him at Banashankari 6th Stage. Assistant Sub-Inspector Veerabadraiah chased Gani, who then tried to attack the ASI with a knife. He opened two rounds of fire before warning Gani to surrender and to defend himself. He then opened fire at Gani and arrested him”, the officer added.

The police said Gani was riding the bike alone and was on his way to target women. He operated alone and hadn’t formed a gang, they added.He was involved in more than 70 chain-snatching cases in Bengaluru itself and was not caught by the police even once, the police said.

Head constable rewarded `1 lakh

The city police commissioner, T Suneel Kumar rewarded `1 lakh to the head constable, Chandrakumar, who is recovering at a private hospital. Chandrakumar also got a month-long sick leave and the commissioner has even arranged a South India trip for him. The special police team involved in nabbing Gani has also been awarded `1 lakh.

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