COIMBATORE : Coimbatore City police have arrested a Nagapattinam-based man in connection with five chain-snatching incidents in the city. He was arrested after police sifted through footage from more than 600 CCTV cameras. A total of 114 grams of gold was recovered from him.
The suspect was identified as K Vedhamani (21) from Vadamalai near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam. He completed a diploma from a private polytechnic college near Sulur in Coimbatore. Police said he used to travel to Tiruppur from Nagapattinam by bus. He borrowed a motorcycle from his friend in Tiruppur and used fake registration number plates before involving in chain snatching.
He was involved in five chain-snatching cases in February and March 2024. He snatched 114 grams of gold from the women in the five-chain snatching.
After studying the pattern of chain snatchings, police came to know that the same person was involved in all the incidents and all were reported at night between 8 and 9 pm and the snatcher used a sports model bike.
Police scanned around 600 CCTV cameras between the Coimbatore city and Tirupur for around 60 kilometres, and traced the bike’s original number plate.
Based on the hint, the police picked up the vehicle’s owner who revealed that his friend Vedhamani had been using the bike. The suspect left Tiruppur after committing the chain-snatching occurrences. He was facing three more chain snatching cases in Mangalam police station in Tiruppur and Nagapattinam district police jurisdiction in 2021 and 2022. Police arrested him at Nagapattinam on Sunday and remanded him to the prison under judicial custody.