R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Apr 15: The Karkala town police here have succeeded in arresting a notorious thief involved with snatching of chains with impunity.

The identity of the arrested man has been given as Thomas (48), a resident of Salmar here.

The police said that Thomas has been involved with over 36 chain-snatching cases. Out of them, the police succeeded in recovering 13 chains from the possession of the accused.

The accused was active since the last some months. He used to move about in his motor bike, targetted pedestrian women found to be alone on the road, and fled after clandestinely approaching the women and pulling away gold chains from their necks. The police had found it a challenging task to nip this menace.

During the Brahmakalashotsava programme of Lord Mahalingeshwara temple at Peruvaje near here, the police found glimpses of the chain snatcher which were recorded in closed circuit TV camera installed there. This particular camera had been installed due to the interest evinced by municipal chief officer, Rayappa, who wanted to zero in on those who were throwing garbage on Peruvaje road. The camera showed the man zipping through the road, and returning at the same speed after snatching chain from the neck of a woman.

Thomas is an entrepreneur. During the raid on his residence, the police found 13 stolen gold chains which had been kept inside the almirah at his home.

The people have strong reservations about the intention of the police in stoutly refusing to release photographs of the culprit to the media earlier. It is felt that the police are wary of doing so because of the fact that Thomas happens to be a relative of the leader of a national party.