26 May,2026 02:07 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Motorcycle-borne gang used knife to rob women of gold chains in Navi Mumbai. FILE Illustration/Uday Mohite
Navi Mumbai Police have arrested four people, including a jeweller, in connection with three chain-snatching cases reported under the Rabale Police Station limits. The incidents took place on March 24 in areas including Airoli and Talavali, reported news agency PTI.
In one case, two motorcycle-borne men allegedly threatened a woman with a knife and snatched her gold chain in Airoli.
In two other incidents, women were robbed of their gold chains in Talavali and Airoli village.
Police said separate FIRs were registered after the incidents.
Following an investigation, police arrested Ayush Arjun Detke, Arjun Babu Chavan, Aparna Sandeep Awale, and jeweller Takhatsingh Premsingh Rathod.
Officials said stolen gold chains worth around Rs 1.05 lakh were recovered from the accused. "The accused were involved in multiple coordinated chain-snatching incidents," a release issued by the police said.
Police also said that efforts are ongoing to trace three more accused persons who are still absconding.
According to investigators, one of the absconding accused and his associates have 14 criminal cases registered against them in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. The gang is believed to have stolen valuables worth Rs 18.83 lakh, out of which items worth Rs 9.43 lakh have been recovered so far.
Given the organised nature of the offences and the criminal background of those involved, police have invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused.
Officials said the decision was taken due to the repeated involvement of the gang in similar crimes across the region.
In a similar case, Navi Mumbai Police in Maharashtra arrested three members of an alleged inter-state "Irani gang" involved for multiple chain-snatching early this month. The action followed a complaint filed at Rabale Police Station on April 19 after a 41-year-old woman was robbed of a 10-gram gold chain worth about Rs 1.5 lakh near Bridge Vihar Society on the Diva-Airoli road around 10.45 pm by two men on a motorcycle.
Using CCTV footage from Airoli to Kalyan, technical inputs, and intelligence-based leads, the police traced the suspects to an 'Irani settlement' in Ambivli, Kalyan, where three accused were arrested.
Police recovered stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 12.75 lakh, along with two motorcycles and a mobile phone. Officials said the arrests mark a major breakthrough in several pending theft cases, and during interrogation the accused allegedly confessed to involvement in multiple chain-snatching incidents.
(With PTI Inputs)
