NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has arrested an alleged snatcher, accused in the death of a 66-year-old woman from Arunachal Pradesh who died after falling from an e-rickshaw while resisting a snatching attempt in north Delhi last month.The accused, identified as Umesh Khari (36), started snatching since 2004 and mainly targetted women of foreign origins or those who were not native to Delhi.
Sharing details, DCP (north) Manoj Kumar Meena said an incident of robbery took place with an elderly woman near Majnu Ka Tilla, Civil Lines on December 17.The woman, Kunsang Chaki, was in the city with her children, and was staying at the Arunachal Bhawan.
At around 4pm on December 17, she was on her way to the Vidhan Sabha metro station from Majnu ka Tila when a man on a black bike attempted to snatch her bag. Her son, Pasang Dorjee, 45, told police that the bag contained `1 lakh, her phone, and ID cards.
From the impact force used by the accused to snatch the handbag, Kunsang fell down from the e-rickshaw and sustained head injuries.Four days later, on December 21, she expired during treatment following which the police added murder charges to the already registered FIR.
In view of the nature and gravity of the offence, the police constituted three different teams led by three different ACP-level officers.During investigation, CCTV footages from the scene of crime was analyzed and the motorcycle of the accused was identified. “Efforts were made by getting bulk data of the owners of the specific motorcycles registered in the NCR. While verifying the data, owner of one of the bikes was not traceable,” the DCP said.
For that reason, the criminal record of the person was searched and he was found involved in several robberies registered in Delhi. Search for his associate, Umesh Khari, was conducted, but he was also found absconding.“When the criminal history of Umesh Khari was looked into, he was found involved in a number of cases of robbery and snatchings registered in different police stations in Delhi and UP,” Meena said.
The DCP said that they kept raiding several hideouts but Khari was not traceable but these continuous raids made him restive and forced him to surrender before a court in Ghaziabad in a decade old case of snatching. Accordingly, he was brought to Delhi, interrogated and arrested in relation to the present case.
During interrogation, he confessed to the present crime. Some of the deceased’s property was recovered during his police custody.
Drawn out of hiding to appear before court
The DCP said that they kept raiding several hideouts but Khari was not traceable but these continuous raids made him restive and forced him to surrender before a court in Ghaziabad in a decade old case of snatching. Accordingly, he was brought to Delhi, interrogated and arrested in the present case.