India News | Man Snatches Phones from Two Within 10 Minutes, Held

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) A bike-borne man allegedly snatched two mobiles from two people -- the separate incidents taking place in 10 minutes of each other -- at Connaught Place in the heart of the national capital.

Police said they arrested the accused, identified as the 21-year-old Arpan Christ, on Wednesday. He was previously involved in 20 criminal cases and declared a "Bad Character" by the Sunlight Colony police station, they added.

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Both the snatching incidents took place on Tuesday and the accused was identified based on a CCTV footage and arrested later using technical surveillance, police said.

A CCTV footage of one of these incidents showed him snatching away the mobile phone of a 35-year-old woman while she was standing on the roadside in the Outer Circle of the Connaught Place, they said.

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In another incident, a few metres away from the first spot, he allegedly snatched the mobile phone from a man while he was using the device but no footage of the incident could be recovered, police said.

Before committing the two incidents at Connaught Place, he had also snatched mobile phones from Amar Colony in southeast Delhi in the morning, they added.

According to police, two separate FIRs were registered in connection with the incidents and during investigation, based on the CCTV footage, the registration number of the bike used by the accused was identified and the records obtained from the transport authority showed that the motorcycle belonged to Aryan Wilson, a resident of Ashram here.

When Wilson was questioned, he disclosed that he was previously involved in a crime and was arrested by Sunlight Colony police station. He also told police that his accomplice Arpan Christ used his motorcycle in committing the offence, said Deepak Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi).

Accused Christ earlier worked at a pub-cum-restaurant at Connaught Place and was familiar with the topography of the place, he said.

The accused was traced and arrested from Jasola in Sarita Vihar, police said, adding three snatched mobile phones have been recovered from him so far.

The motorcycle used in the offence has also been recovered and efforts are on to recover other mobile phones snatched by him, they said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)