MCOCA court sends chain-snatching case to magistrate

The special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) has rejected the decision of the RAK Marg police to prosecute three persons under the stringent provisions of this law for chain-snatching.

The court accepted the argument by the defence that the police had failed to establish the offence was committed for monetary gains and it consequently transferred the case to the Bhoiwada metropolitan magistrate court to be tried under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The accused, Salman alias Jacky Papli Hussain and Kasim Haider Hussain, were arrested on March 2, 2014, after they snatched the gold chain of a woman near Wadala bus depot.

The police recovered the gold chain and another Bentex chain from the two and they were remanded to police custody.

Subsequently, police found that the duo were assisted by two others, one of them a woman by the name of Shabana Tehjeeb Hussain, who used to help them sell the valuables.

They also found that there were eight cases of robbery registered against Shabana and ten cases against the fourth person, Kasim Sayyed. Therefore, they re-arrested Salman and Haider under MCOCA.