Saikat Guin Saikat Guin

Until now, only miscreants and college dropouts were usually found indulging in chain snatching. So, the Bangalore police were left dumbstruck when a chain snatcher they caught last Sunday turned out to be a manager in a reputed MNC firm.Saikat Guin, an MBA, worked as an operation analyst development manager in a top financial services firm.His partner in crime was Sounak Dutta, a 20-year-old engineering student of a city-based college.Together, the duo was involved in more than a dozen chain snatching cases in the city. They had been into the crime for more than a year.Both Saikat, 27, and Sounak are from Kolkata and belong to well-off families. According to the police, they met at a party and, being from the same city, became friends and partners in crime.Saikat, who draws a salary of Rs 25,000 a month, found snatching an easy way to get enough money to lead a lavish life. He was also planning to tie the knot next month. Sounak took to the crime to clear his education loan. They used to dispose of the stolen gold chains with pawn brokers and jewellers.The duo had allegedly snatched the chains of more than a dozen women, with Saikat driving a Yamaha R15 bike and Sounak riding pillion. They ran out of luck last Sunday.Out on their bike, they were looking for victims in HRBR Layout First Block when they spotted Lavanya riding pillion with her husband Anand Reddy on a two-wheeler. Saikat followed the couple and near Oriental Bank, Sounak tried to snatch Lavanya's chain.She, however, managed to hold on to it and raised alarm. The duo panicked and sped away. But Reddy asked his wife to get down and chased the duo. He also alerted a passing policeman who, too, followed Saikat and Sounak. The two miscreants were cornered at the Babusabpalya junction. Upon interrogation, they confessed to their crime."We are yet to ascertain the exact number of chain snatchings they are involved in, but it's at least a dozen cases. They have been arrested and an investigation is on," a police officer said.On an average, about 400 chain snatching cases are reported in Bangalore every year. Only a week ago, Karnataka Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah had come down heavily on the city police for not being able to check the rising incidents of chain snatching.