Vijayawada: The Vijayawada City Police, under the NTR District Police Commissionerate, arrested a chain-snatching accused with the help of CCTV surveillance and recovered 64 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs 8.32 lakh.

Acting on the directions of Police Commissioner SV Rajasekhara Babu, and under the supervision of Crime DCP K Tirumaleswara Reddy and Crime ADCP M Raja Rao, special teams led by ACP Venkateswarlu and CCS Inspectors launched an operation to curb the recent spate of thefts and chain snatchings in the district.

During a press conference held at Machavaram Police Station on Saturday, Additional DCP (Crime) Raja Rao disclosed the case details. Based on CCTV footage and credible information, the CCS team apprehended the suspect on Saturday, near Rajagopalachari Street, Governor Peta, Vijayawada.

The accused was identified as Buraga Gopinath alias Gopi (20), residing near Nagarjuna Public School, Lenin Nagar.

ADCP Raja Rao said that on October 13, the accused approached Baditha Satyavati (55), owner of Satya Agencies at Chuttugunta, under the pretext of renting a portion of her premises for AC repair work.

Later that evening, he returned, threatened her with a cutter knife, and forcibly snatched her gold chain before fleeing.

With the help of 10,000 CCTV cameras installed across Machavaram, Satyanarayanapuram, Krishnalanka, Governorpet, and One Town areas connected to the Command and Control Centre, the police tracked the accused’s movements and arrested him.

Police Commissioner SV Rajasekhara Babu commended ASIs Balayya, B Venkata Swamy, Satyanarayana, and Constable ChMS Narayana (Mithun) for their crucial role in nabbing the accused.