Mumbai: Juhu police arrest serial mobile phone snatcher

The accused, Mohsin Leek Ansari, alias Chikna

The Juhu police arrested a 22-year-old accused who along with a minor arrived on a motorcycle near Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow in Juhu, snatched a mobile phone of a passer-by, and fled from the spot. The incident occurred on January 25 at around 12.30 am. The police said that in order to avoid being captured on the CCTV cameras, the accused was speeding at a speed of more than 80-90 kmph at every point where CCTV cameras are installed. The cops scanned more than 150 CCTV cameras and eventually nabbed the accused from the Govandi area.

Grab of the CCTV video

The accused, Mohsin Leek Ansari, alias Chikna, 20, and a 17-year-old minor, are both residents of Govandi. Chikna has been arrested more than 12 times in Mumbai and Pune for snatching mobile phones. He has criminal cases at Juhu, Dharavi, Kalachowki, Naupada, Govandi, Trombay, Shivaji Nagar, Pimpri Chinchwad, Hinjawadi, Mankhurd, and Tilak Nagar police stations. The police also seized other mobile phones and a bike worth a total of Rs 1.5 lakh from the accused.

Under the guidance of DCP Krishnakant Upadhyay and Juhu police station's senior police inspector Sunil Jadhav, a team of API Vijay Dhotre, API Ganesh Jain, PSI Todankar, and Pathkane started a technical investigation with the help of CCTV footage. They were able to identify the accused as he sped away with the complainant's mobile phone, with only the yellow colour of the bike and the white-coloured pants of the person sitting behind visible. The images were blurred due to the speed of the bike.

The police followed the accused from Juhu to Dharavi-Kurla-Amar Mahal Junction-Chembur railway station. The minor accused got down near the Shivaji Nagar Bridge and later took the route to PMGP Colony, Mankhurd railway station, via RC Main Gate, and went to Chinta Camp via Trombay police station. After examining the CCTV footage, the police arrested both of the accused.