MG Road horror: Chain-snatcher who stabbed five people has a long history of violence

A casual Sunday turned into a dreadful evening along MG road in Bengaluru, when a habitual offender stabbed five people after snatching a woman’s chain.

At around 7.15 pm on Sunday, Sheetal Jain, a 35-year-resident and her twins were visiting the Rangoli Metro Art Centre on MG Road boulevard, next to the metro station. While her kids were playing, 28-year-old Mohammed Dastagir stabbed Sheetal and snatched her chain, according to the New Indian Express.

Constables Pratap and Mahesh, attached to the Cubbon Park Police Station were alerted about the incident. They rushed to the spot immediately, but Dastagir stabbed them as well, and escaped. He also stabbed two more people. However, passers-by overpowered Dastagir about 200 metres from where he attacked Sheetal and handed him over to the Cubbon Park police.

According to The Times Of India, Dastagir is a habitual offender who was released from jail just three months ago.

According to the Cubbon Park police, Dastagir has a long criminal history and is known to be violent. He has multiple cases registered against him across 17 police stations in the city for assaulting people and police with lethal weapons.

According to TOI, Mohammed Dastagir alias Dasthu, a resident of Sarabande Palya in South Bengaluru, served a five-year prison sentence after being convicted for attempting to murder a police constable attached to the Kumaraswamy Layout Police Station.

Dastagir has 17 pending cases against him including robbery, chain-snatching and attempt to murder, in Kumaraswamy Layout, Banashankari, and Subramanyapura Police Stations. The KS Layout Police have also opened a history sheet against Dastagir.

The Cubbon Park police told TNM that three of the cases registered against Dastagir are related to attacks on policemen alone.

Based on the complaint lodged by Constable Mahesh, Dastagir was booked for voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery, attempt to murder for stabbing, and obstructing police personnel from discharging their duty on Sunday night, according to Bangalore Mirror.

Police said two days prior to the shooting, Dastagir had barged into a garment shop near Sarakki on Kanakapura Main Road and attempted to rob it. He had stabbed the shop owner and fled after passersby chased him. Dastagir, however, was acquitted in this case due to lack of evidence and contradictory statements of the complainant.

On January 22, 2013, the Kumaraswamy Layout police were hunting down Dastagir as he was accused of robbing and attempting to murder a city-based businessman. The police team went to nab Dastagir when he was sleeping in an under-construction building near the JC Industrial area. However, he woke up and assaulted constable Abhijith with a dagger. When he did not surrender, he was shot at. Dastagir was convicted for attempting to murder the policeman and was sent to jail for five years, according to TOI.

Dastagir was also convicted in another case registered in Ulsoor Gate police station in 2017 for allegedly obstructing a policeman from discharging his duty at the City Civil Court premises, when the police brought him in for a case hearing. He abused a constable and threatened and then threatened to kill him after his release. He was convicted by a sessions court and slapped with a fine of Rs 4,000 as punishment.