Man gets friend's gold chain snatched to recover his money

Two men were arrested on Wednesday by the police in a case of chain-snatching. The motive behind the crime was allegedly to recover money that had been lent to the victim.

Anil Rajaram Shelar and Jaisingh Kalsi

Jaisingh Kalsi, who has a pub in Bandra and resides near Citylight Cinemas in Mahim, claimed that his old friend, Rahul Pagdhare, a Koli fisherman and a resident of M B Raut Road in Shivaji Park, had borrowed Rs 15,000 from him a year and a half ago. Kalsi claimed Pagdhare hadn't yet returned the money, and had in fact refused to do so.

Following his defiance, Kalsi decided to try another way to recover the money. He knew Anil Rajaram Shelar who used to frequent his pub. Together, they hatched a plan.

"As Pagdhare was not paying him back, Kalsi decided to teach him a lesson. He took his friend, Anil Shelar's help for the plan," said Sub-Inspector Deep Bane at Shivaji Park police station.

According to the police, Shelar has around 30 cases of theft and robbery against him. The police had externed him from the city last month.

On August 8, at Raja Badhe Chowk in Shivaji Park, Pagdhare stepped out for some work. Kalsi and Shelar came on a bike and snatched a 32-gram gold chain away. "Being a Koli fisherman, Pagdhare used to wear heavy gold chains. When it was snatched, he immediately informed the Mumbai police control room," said Bane. Pagdhare identified his friend Kalsi on the bike.

Through an informer, the police learnt that both the accused, who fled the city after committing the crime, would be visiting the city on Wednesday, the day of Ganpati visarjan. "We arrested them from Dadar Chowpatty," said Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy commissioner of police, Zone V.

But the police feel that Kalsi's motive of money recovery may not be true. "Though Kalsi claims he lent the money, we doubt his theory. We think there was a past rivalry between the accused and the victim, since they all stay close to each other," said Parshuram Kakkad, senior police inspector at Shivaji Park police station.u00a0