Mother-daughter duo caught stealing purses, mobiles from tourists

Representational Picture

The Colaba police have arrested mother and daughter duo red-handed for stealing purses and mobiles from tourists on Colaba Causeway. The mother and daughter who hail from Gujarat used to visit South Mumbai and target the weekends. Both of them were arrested within 30 minutes from the time they flicked wallets of two women at Colaba Causeway. A local court has granted police custody to both the women till 29 December 2018.

On Sunday, 23 December 2018, an advocate rushed to Colaba Police station with a complaint that her wallet had been stolen while she was shopping near Cafe Mondegar on Colaba Causeway. When the Advocate was informing the cops about the incident, another woman reached police station claiming that even her wallet was stolen from the same place. When the cops asked the spot of the incident, it appeared to be the same spot where the advocate's wallet was stolen. A team of police was dispatched immediately to the spot to find the robbers and nab the accused.

"When we were checking the spot, we found a CCTV camera installed at a shop where both the women were shopping. We immediately took the CCTV grabs and started the search; within 10 minutes, we found two women with wallets in their handbags." told an officer from Colaba police station on condition of anonymity.

The Colaba police nabbed Chandrikaben Harish Moliya (35) and her mother Savitaben Solanki (70). "Chandrikaben is the daughter of Savitaben and both are residents of Surat" added the police official.

During the investigation, the cops found out that, the accused used to board a bus from Surat and get down at Borivali and take a local train to reach Churchgate. Their modus of stealing was different from others; Chandrikaben used to cover the bag of the target with her odhni (Dupatta) and Savitaben used to pick the wallets by pushing the target little bit.

Savitaben Solanki (70) and her daughter Chandrikaben Harish Moliya (35)

There were 2 FIRs registered against Chandrikaben as she was captured in some of the CCTV cameras earlier while stealing but wasn't caught or identified until today.

"The mother-daughter duo used to target weekends knowing that there is always rush for shopping as women and young girls throng Colaba causeway on holidays. Many incidents of theft have gone unregistered; we are trying to recover as much as property from the duo to return it to their owners" added a cop.

When produced in the court, both the accused were sent to police custody till 29th December.

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