Duo flying down to Chennai from Delhi to snatch chains nabbed

The accused Sanjay alias Vijayapal (42) and Sandeep (30), who flew to Chennai on three occasions to carry out a spate of chain snatchings in July, have been identified as history-sheeters by Delhi police with 30 cases pending against them.

The Joint Commissioner said that a special team of TN police camped in New Delhi to nab three other men Pankaj alias Muralidhar, Sagar and one more unidentified person, who were also part of the gang, to trace their network. “They have committed similar crimes in Gwalior, Agra and Kochi,” said the Joint Commissioner.

According to him, a few members of the gang first landed in Chennai and bought a second-hand Pulsar bike using their Aadhaar card and rented out a room in a lodge in Triplicane.

“Later, the rest of the gang arrived and went on a spree, targeting areas which were not under CCTV surveillance,” he said.

“While they reached Chennai by flight, the return journey was by train to escape multiple checks at terminals. With the arrest of the two men, the number of chain snatching incidents in the city is expected to come down,” he added.

Two men, including a murder accused, were arrested in different parts of city for carrying deadly weapons with them. In the first incident, a 37-year-old murder accused

was caught with a machete. He was identified as Ravi alias Kalvettu Ravi of Tondiarpet. He is an accused in the murder cases of Kanniappan in Kelambakkam (2003), Venus in Tondiarpet (2005), twin murders of Nithya and Othavadai Shanmugam in Esplanade (2009), Francis in Royapuram (2012) and Pokkai Ravi (2014). In another incident, Peerkankaranai police arrested a 25-year-old

Sivasakthi and seized deadly weapons - two machetes and a cow bar - and three two-wheelers from him, while five others managed to escape.