A man has been arrested in Lucknow on charges of snatching a gold chain from a woman in order to gift it to his wife, who is a police constable.

The incident occurred on May 22 when the woman, Krishna Devi, was going to her brother-in-law’s house on Lokbandhu Hospital Road. A bike then came from behind and the accused, Shubham Rajput, pounced on Devi and snatched her gold chain.

To solve the case, police searched the footage of about 500 CCTVs.

On May 26, police arrested Rajput, who revealed that he had committed the crime as he had misplaced his wife’s gold chain which he wore during a visit to a temple. He said he robbed the woman to give the gold chain as a gift to his wife, who is posted in Ayodhya.

During questioning, Rajput said he was earlier a salesman in a jeweller’s shop and later opened his own outlet, which ran into losses. As he was facing a financial crisis, the accused decided to commit the crime, police said.

The police team, which caught Rajput, will be given a reward of Rs 25,000.