MANGALURU

The Surathkal police on Monday arrested Mohammed Abdul Jaffer, 28, near the State Bank bus terminus on suspicion of his involvement in two chain-snatching cases and recovered parts of the gold chains stolen in the incidents.

In a press note, the police said at around 2 a.m. on June 26, a thief snatched a gold chain through the window of a woman’s residence in Chokkabettu. The woman, Zaheed, held on to the chain and the thief managed to make off only with a part of it, worth ₹20,000.

The following day, at 5 a.m, the thief entered a residence in Chokkabettu 8th Block and snatched the gold chain of a woman, Afreena, while she was asleep. Here too, Ms Afreena held on to the chain, and the thief could run away with only a part of it worth ₹1 lakh.

The Surathkal police collected evidence that pointed towards Jaffer’s involvement in the two thefts.

Jaffer, a resident of Katipalla 2nd Block in Surathkal, was among the three accused acquitted in September 2023 of charges of wrongful restraint and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace in a case registered at Urwa police station in 2018.

Currently, he is accused of offences under sections 324(5) (mischief), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in a case registered at Surathkal police station in 2025.