The accused used to sell the stolen mobile phones to people in Delhi and Ghaziabad. (File)
A 27-year-old man, who admitted to more than 100 snatching incidents since coming out of jail in early October, was arrested from Shahdara area in Delhi, police said on Tuesday.
Adil Malik, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, is a fitness freak and leads a lavish life from the earnings through such thefts. He has a wife and two girlfriends and spends more than Rs 1 lakh on his lifestyle and girlfriends -- one of them is a doctor while another is a nurse at a major hospital in Delhi, they said.
Police said the accused uses a high-end stolen bike for committing the crime in the trans-Yamuna area and Uttar Pradesh border areas with a monthly target to snatch around 30-40 mobile phones to earn at least Rs 1 lakh per month.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram said they have been getting regular PCR calls from various areas of Shahdara, North East and East districts of Delhi in the last six months about a biker snatching away mobile phones.
"On Monday, information was received by SHO Seemapuri Vinay Kumar Yadav that the snatcher will pass through on his bike from the area of Chintamani Chowk and accordingly, a dedicated team was constituted and he was nabbed," he said.
"He has admitted to have snatched more than 100 mobile phones since he came out of the jail on October 4 this year. He spends the earned money out of snatching for his girlfriends; takes them to different restaurants and spends more than Rs 1 lakh on his lifestyle and girlfriends. He also recently bought a gold necklace worth Rs 1.5 lakh for his wife," the officer said.
He sells all the stolen mobiles to people in Delhi and Ghaziabad. The price per mobile varies from Rs 3,000 to 6,000. These mobile phones are further sold to customers after tampering the IMEI numbers, he said.
Police recovered a country-made pistol along with a live cartridge, a stolen bike used in the offence and two snatched mobile phones.
Further efforts are being made to recover the stolen items.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)