Rugby coach turns chain snatcher in Adilabad

Telangana: Mohan Devrao Chavan a popular in his hometown for Rugby. A home guard with the Maharashtra Police, who used to purchase rugby balls with his money, distributes it to youngsters in his village and coaches them too.

However, on Wednesday, it was as a chain snatcher that Mohan Devrao was presented before the media.

Superintendent of Police (Railways) B Anuradha said the 28-year-old native of Nanded got addicted to alcohol, and with the salary he got turning out to be insufficient to meet the medical expenses of his pregnant wife, the man turned to crime.

Chavan, a resident of Karla Thanda of Umri Taluq in Nanded, who was even on the verge of forming a rugby team of his own, allegedly joined hands with his friend Pradeep Ade of Mudhked Taluq in Nanded. The two had been snatching chains in running trains for the last one year. He was already irregular at work, the SP said, adding that the duo pulled off eight snatchings at Basar Railway Station in the Adilabad district in Telangana.

They used to scout the railway station and observe the open shafts behind Platform Number 2 to escape after committing an offence at nights, she said, adding that all the eight offences were on the Narsapur Express.

Chavan had also gone to Mumbai to sell some of the stolen gold ornaments, after which he got Rs 1.5 lakh. He returned to Nizamabad district to sell the remaining gold ornaments, which was when the police nabbed him.

Gold ornaments weighing 116 grams and Rs 1.5 lakh in cash, altogether worth over Rs 6 lakh, were recovered from Chavan, who has confessed to the police that he committed similar offences in Dharmabad, Nanded and other areas in Maharashtra.

“We will take Chavan into the custody to know more information about his involvement in other cases in Maharashtra and Telangana,” Anuradha said. A hunt is on to trace Pradeep.