Chain snatching: Temple priest among five held

Following several complaints of chain snatchings in Tiruvottiyur in the last few weeks, police formed special teams to nab the suspects. Meanwhile, a woman lost her chain to snatchers who robbed her at knifepoint recently. Based on her complaint, Sathangadu police collected CCTV footages from the location and identified the vehicle with its registration number. When it was secured during a vehicle check, two men who were riding the vehicle, Dhanasekar (22) of Kargil Nagar and Prashanth (23), admitted to have snatching chains by targeting lone women returning from temple in the locality. Based on their inputs, police arrested two others Karthik (24) and Sathish (23).

However, what shocked police was that it was the temple priest Ruban (30) who gave them tip-off about such women. Police secured Ruban from Angalammal Koil at Sathangadu. Interrogation revealed that Ruban used the gang for the past one-and half years to snatch chains from devotees, the police said.

Police said that Ruban would act friendly with women devotees and find out about their route back home. “Later, he would share the details with the gang and share the loot,” said police. They recovered eight sovereigns from the gang. All five were remanded in judicial custody.