The police have finally put notorious chain snatcher Abbas Irani alias Abbas Khan behind the bars. The Thane Crime Branch caught up with him after a chase spread over seven months, during which he got married in January, went on honeymoon, and escaped from the law in April when a mob (of his relatives and neighbours) pelted stones at the police team that had arrived to catch him at his residence.

Thane DCP, Crime, Deepak Devraj said, "Our team had chasing him since the past few months and finally we received a tip-off that he was near Kurla. Our team laid a trap and arrested him there. He has two Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) cases against him. He had escaped after his marriage in Ambivli."

Although Abbas often visited his home at Ambivli near Kalyan, police could not arrest him there. mid-day had reported on this on January 10, 'Are cops waiting for invitation to arrest notorious criminal?' The Thane police had formed a special team to arrest Abbas. Police said Abbas visited his home everyday, sometimes even twice. The Bandra police studied the pattern and laid a trap in April but could not arrest him as the mob attacked them. mid-day had reported this, 'Mob of 21 assaults cops, frees notorious criminal Abbas Irani from Kalyan' on April 10.

Abbas is notorious for chain-snatching. His gang's usual modus operandi is to dupe women by posing as policemen. The gang members claim to be CBI or crime branch officers and target elderly or uneducated women. Claiming that a thief is on the loose, they ask the women to hand them their gold ornaments for safe-keeping, and then disappear with the valuables.

Cases across country

Police records show that there are more than 100 cases registered against Abbas and his gang across the country, but somehow, the police could never seem to catch him. There are cases against him in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. As many as 50 cases of theft are registered in Thane alone, and there are more than 30 in Delhi. Interestingly, the conman celebrated for three days in January and got hitched amid much fanfare at his house in Ambivli. However, there was no sign of the police.

Family business

The Irani family has been infamous for their 'chain-snatching business.' When Abbas's uncle Ajij Irani was arrested in 2015, his wife got their elder son Hasan involved in the business. Though Hasan was arrested in 2017, his father got bail soon after. But Ajij was again arrested in 2018. Thereafter, his wife got the younger son involved in the business, following which even he was arrested under the Juvenile Act.

-Anamika Gharat

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates