Mumbai: Men who chased, caught thief turn out to be cops

Constable Sachin Gundge (left) and Constable Pravin Farde

Alerted by the screams of a woman whose gold chain had been snatched, two men chased the thief for about 300-metres and caught him. Fortunately for the woman, the two were policemen patrolling in plainclothes.

According to the police, 29-year-old Sangita Gundappa was headed to her workplace in Eskey Apartment near Chacha Nehru garden, Borivli West on Friday evening. She began to climb up the stairs when a person came from behind and tried to snatch her gold chain. She turned around and resisted, but the accused grabbed the chain, and managed to break it. He took it and began to run away. Gundappa ran behind him screaming "Chor, Chor!"

Two constables, Sachin Ashok Gundge and Pravin Chandrakant Farde, attached to the Borivli police station, working in the detection team under PSI Nilesh More, were patrolling the area in civil clothes. They were on a bike when they saw Gundappa running and screaming and stopped to ask her what was the matter. When she told them and pointed towards the fleeing thief, Gundge and Farde left the bike and began to give chase on foot. The accused entered the narrow streets in Saibaba Nagar area, but after chasing him for about 250 -300 metres, they caught him.

The constables recovered the broken gold chain from the accused and took him to the police station. "The accused was identified as Rakesh Taak, 29, from Thane. He is an auto driver. He has a family dispute and might have stolen the chain due to it. He was booked and arrested under section 392 (robbery) of IPC and produced before the court yesterday. It remanded him in four days police custody," an officer from Borivali police station said. The accused does not have a criminal record, an officer said.

The Mumbai police commissioner; the North Mumbai additional commissioner; DCP Zone XI, ACP (Borivali division) and senior police inspector of Borivali police station have praised the two constables' work. Senior Inspector Laxman Dumbre of the Borivli police station said, "The constables will be felicitated by North Mumbai additional commissioner Dilip Sawant, and they will be recommended for an award."

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