Chain-snatchers organised bhandaras to atone for sins

Lucknow: After snatching gold chains from women, members of this gang organized bhandara at Shani temple and offered chaadar at Khamman Peer Baba to atone for their sins.
The startling fact surfaced with the arrest of four chain snatchers and a jeweller. The Gomti Nagar police also claimed to have busted the gang which had executed 18 loot cases in the past in trans-Gomti area on Thursday.
Police nabbed Umesh Kumar Kasyap alias Chintu, resident of Hazratganj and Ayush Saxena, Narhi, from Gomtinagar when they were doing recce of the area and identifying potential targets. The arrest was caught live on CCTV in the area. Later, Manoj Kumar, resident of Kaiserbagh, and Shahnawaz of Jankipuram were also nabbed. Cops also recovered 18 gold chains and a pistol from them.
The four miscreants have owned up to their crime during interrogation. Umesh said he organized bhandara and visited holy places to atone for his sins. He said he felt guilty after executing crimes and felt that puja and bhandar was a way of soul-cleansing.
Police also arrested an elderly jeweller, Bal Swaroop (76), of Lakadmandi in Chowk.
He allegedly purchased the looted gold chains. His son Pankaj Rastogi, who was also made an accused in the case, is on the run. Swaroop, however, claimed that he was being framed and even alleged that the chain-snatchers had been pressured into giving a statement against him.
However, SSP Manzil Saini said the arrested men are hardcore criminals and they had looted a country-made pistol from a man in Kaiserbagh. She said the miscreants targeted those on lonely stretches of roads. "Umesh is a good biker while Ayush spotted the target. Umesh had such a mastery in driving bikes that they used to vanish in thin air after executing the crime,' she said.
It surfaced that Umesh had even been to jail in 2015.