Watch Video: Chain snatcher nabbed after 45-minute chase

It was a scene straight out of a Bollywood thriller. Two youngsters helped a 65-year-old lady nab a chain snatcher after a 45-minute chase through narrow chawl lanes and thick bushes near Janakalyan Nagar of Malad.

The miscreant had snatched a gold chain from the senior citizen who was on her morning walk. After the gold chain was recovered from the chain snatcher, he was handed over to the police, but not before being thrashed by the senior citizen and other residents.

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The incident took place early on Thursday at around 6.30 am when 18-year-old Abhishek Mishra, a second year BMS student of Thakur College, was going to drop his sister to SNDT College on his bike.

The chain-snatcher was thrashed by the senior citizen before being handed over to the Malad police

He met his friend, Gaurav Dagare (21) who works as an accounts assistant and stays at a building on the route. As Mishra went a few metres away from the building, he saw a man running across the road being followed by a senior citizen.

Setting a trap
"The woman was screaming ‘chor chor;' I stopped to ask her what had happened. She stays nearby and was on her morning walk when the man snatched her gold chain. I saw the man entering the bushes around one of the grounds.

Since I knew that the ground is huge and he will take time to escape from the other exit, I dropped my sister to college and came back to the spot within 10 minutes," said Mishra. He then met his friend Dagare, who was waiting for him at the spot. They both rode the bike to the other end of the ground waiting for the chain snatcher to come out.

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Within moments, the man came out of the ground. However, as soon as the chain-snatcher saw them, he again vanished into the bushes. "We started following him on our bike but then he disappeared into the narrow lanes of the chawl. We parked the bike and started chasing him on foot.

After following him for over half-an-hour, we finally managed to catch him since the residents of the chawl also helped us. We found the gold chain in his pocket," said Dagare. The duo then brought the man back to the place of the incident where the senior citizen was waiting for them and went to inform the police.

"The lady almost cried while thanking us for getting her gold chain back, and then started beating the man black and blue. Other residents also started beating him up, by then the police officials from the nearby chowky also reached, and arrested the man," added Mishra. The chain snatcher was arrested by the Malad Police, which took him into custody.