New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have solved a mobile snatching case, pertaining to an Indian national working in Saudi Arabia, in just five hours of the incident.

However, the startling fact is that one of the two criminals caught by police was released a day before the crime, from Tihar jail.

The two snatchers were identified as Mohd Taimur alias Saddam and Sameer Khan, and they have a history of committing such crimes. The snatched mobile phone was also recovered from their custody.

The mobile snatching took place in North Delhi's Sadar Bazar area on May 10, when a Haryana resident Juvail Khan was on his way to his friend's factory in the area. While he walked on foot and was crossing past a school on Idgah Road, two bike-borne men came from behind and snatched his mobile phone and fled from the spot.

Forty-two-year-old Juvial Khan works in Saudi Arabia and is currently in India for some personal assignments.

Soon after the victim lodged a complaint, the Sadar Bazar station formed a police team comprising Sub-inspector Vijay Kumar, Head Constables Rohit and Ramesh, and Constable Ajay under the supervision of Inspector Sahdev Singh Tomar. The police team launched a quick investigation, scanned and analysed CCTV footage from the area and swooped on them in just a couple of hours.

Both Saddam and Sameer Khan, residents of the Sadar Bazar area, are active criminals. Their photographs were extracted and shared among the police station staff and also with those employed at different picket points. In the late evening, they were apprehended at the picket point while trying to escape on foot. When they were searched, the snatched mobile phone was recovered.

During interrogation, both confessed to the crime. They have been previously involved in several cases of snatching and other crimes.

Saddam was arrested last month for violating the terms of his externment. He was released from Tihar jail on May 9, and the very next day, he, along with his accomplice, started committing the crime again.

--IANS

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