Kolkata: Three days after a 57-year-old woman, Piyali De Roy, was left shaken and traumatised when three bike-borne miscreants snatched her gold chain near her Dhakuria residence in south Kolkata on Saturday evening, the Kolkata Police detective department claimed to have arrested all the three accused.
The police said that the trio was picked up from Gosaba in South 24 Parganas and questioned at Lalbazar before being put under arrest. All the accused, aged between 29 and 33, have previous criminal cases against them across south and central Kolkata.
"We solved the Garfa PS snatching case recorded on Feb 22. We used CCTV footage and our source information, and the department has arrested all three involved in the crime. They have been identified as Bapi Sarkar, his brother Bappa Sarkar, and Amit Mondal. We are taking the accused into police custody and will try to make recoveries," said commissioner Manoj Verma.The main accused, Bapi, has as many as nine cases against him and his brother Bappa another five.
CP Verma said all the accused have multiple criminal cases pending against them, starting from as far back as 2013. According to Joint CP (crime & traffic) Rupesh Kumar, the accused targeted the victim randomly and not with much recce. They followed the same modus operandi as they did in their previous operations.
"The accused have cases pending at Burrabazar, Netaji Nagar, Survey Park, Jadavpur, Haridevpur, Muchipara, and Bansdroni police stations. The bike used to commit the crime was sold and resold multiple times. We are ascertaining if the accused stole the bike," said Joint CP Kumar. Sources claimed the accused fled to Gosaba after the incident and switched off their mobile phones. But cops used their sources to reach the accused.
According to Piyali De Roy, she was walking to a relative's home in the same neighbourhood near Dhakuria Jheel Road when the trio, riding a motorcycle, slowed down next to her, and one of them spoke loudly, pointing at a house to the woman's right. As Roy turned right out of curiosity, one of them yanked the chain off her neck.
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