Interstate Chain Snatcher and Vehicle Thief Arrested in Mangaluru; Stolen Goods Worth ₹5 Lakh Recovered

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Mangaluru : The Kadri Police in Mangaluru successfully apprehended an interstate thief on Thursday who was involved in both vehicle theft and chain snatching cases across multiple states and districts. The arrested individual has been identified as Adith Gopan alias Muthu Krishna (32), a resident of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Following his arrest, the police recovered four stolen two-wheelers and two gold chains, with the total seized property valued at approximately ₹5 lakh.

The investigation was initiated after a case was filed at the Kadri Police Station on November 21st. The complaint detailed that an unknown person on a two-wheeler snatched a gold chain from an 83-year-old elderly woman who was near her residence in Kadri Battagudde. A special task force was immediately formed to trace the culprit. On December 4th, acting on a tip-off, the police team conducting vehicle checks near Kadri Jogimutt intercepted a suspicious individual riding a two-wheeler (KA19HC6946). Upon inspection, the vehicle was confirmed to have been stolen from the Surathkal Police Station limits. Interrogation revealed that the accused was systematically using stolen two-wheelers to target elderly persons and lone women for chain snatching.

The arrested accused is a notorious criminal with an interstate history, having previously been involved in four house theft cases in Tamil Nadu and serving time in the Nagercoil Jail. After his release, he would travel across India via train, target two-wheelers parked near railway stations, steal them, and then use the stolen vehicles to commit robberies. The charges against the accused include the snatching of a 1.5 sovereign gold chain from the elderly woman in Kadri (Nov 21st) and an earlier, more violent incident on September 29th, where he threatened a lone woman with a knife and snatched a 2 sovereign gold chain in the Mulki Police Station limits near Kotekeri.

In addition to the two gold chains, the police confirmed that the recovered two-wheelers were stolen from various jurisdictions, including two from the Surathkal police limits (Chokkabettu and Agaramelu), one from Byndoor, and one from Kundapura. The rapid and special efforts of the police team led to the quick resolution of this serious interstate crime. The accused was presented before the court on December 5th and was taken into three days of police custody for further investigation.