Puri: Two men were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly snatching gold chains from pedestrians in Puri on March 10.The duo was identified as Monu Singh (27) of Patna district and Deepak Kumar Singh (28) of Sitamarhi district in Bihar.Addressing a press meet, Puri SP Prateek Singh said a complaint was lodged by an elderly resident of Puri, alleging that around 10:20am on Tuesday, two youths on a motorcycle approached her near Matiapada chowk close to Giri Goswami Math and snatched the gold chain, weighing about 23gm, from her neck while she was returning home.During investigation, police found that the accused had reached Odisha from New Delhi on March 9 and transported the motorcycle to Bhubaneswar through railway parcel service. They later changed the bike’s number plate and used an Odisha registration number to avoid suspicion.On March 10, the duo allegedly carried out two chain snatching incidents in Puri, one at Matiapada chowk and another near Khadipada chowk under Sadar police station limits, targeting a man identified as Ashok Pattanaik.Acting on the information, police chased down the duo while they were trying to escape and apprehended them. A motorcycle with a fake number plate, two gold chains, an airbag, clothes, two Delhi registration number plates and two motorcycle keys were seized from their possession.The SP added that the accused are suspected to be involved in a series of similar crimes in other states. Their criminal antecedents are currently being verified.
