Chain-snatcher takes 40ft plunge to evade arrest

Chain-snatcher takes 40ft plunge to evade arrest

A chain-snatcher can go to any extent to save himself from the police. Mohammad Aziz Kasam Shaikh, 23, demonstrated this by jumping off the 40-ft Andheri flyover on Sunday. His stunt went in vain as he landed in hospital with fractured legs while his accomplice managed to escape. Shaikh, a resident of Mahim, is a habitual offender and has more than 100 cases of chain snatching against him. Around 11am, two beat marshals were patrolling on Western Express Highway at Jogeshwari when the control room flashed a bike number saying two thieves were escaping on the bike after snatching a chain from the Goregaon area. The alert beat marshals, who had noted the bike number, saw the bike speeding. They realised that it was the same number that the control room had alerted them about. The constables started chasing the bike. When the chain-snatchers saw this, they accelerated their bike, the police said. The beat marshal intercepted the biker on the Andheri flyover near Sai service showroom. The pillion rider got off the bike and immediately jumped off the flyover. "Seeing him jump, the policemen got scared and they rushed down the flyover. The other accused riding the bike got a chance to flee from there," said sub-inspector Amar Patil. The Andheri police admitted Shaikh to Cooper Hospital. The police recovered four gold chains from him, which he had reportedly snatched on Sunday from the western suburbs. "We are waiting for Shaikh to recover and then will interrogate him and try and recover the rest of the stolen gold chains from him," Patil added. The police have launched a manhunt for Shaikh's accomplice who escaped. Additional commissioner of police Ramrao Pawar of (north west region) announced a reward of Rs1,000 to constables Sontosh Sawant and Sunil Nadekar who were on a beat marshal duty who chased the accused and arrested one.