Chandigarh, Nov 20 (IANS) City police Friday said they had solved a spate of snatchings and robberies, in which elderly women out on morning walk were attacked, with the arrest of a man.

The accused, identified as Inderjit Singh, is a resident of Chandigarh. He used to seriously injure the victims while committing the crime, police said.

Police laid a trap in Sector 42 after getting a tip-off from their source.

The police have recovered four stolen cars from his possession.

'After committing the snatching or robbery, he used to flee in a stolen car bearing a fake registration number. He was earlier arrested in 2002 and 2005 and police recovered nearly ten cars and solved many cases of robberies and snatching then,' S.S. Srivastava, senior superintendent of police, Chandigarh, told reporters here Friday evening.

Talking about the modus operandi, he added, 'He used to follow the elderly ladies out on walks for a few days before attacking them at some secluded place. He would park his car on the way of the lady and when she would pass the vehicle he would attack from the rear on her head or simply push her to the ground and overpower her.'

Singh had attacked a 78-year-old woman Thursday morning at around 6.30 a.m. The woman sustained injuries on the head, nose and ears. Singh had looted her gold bangles after pushing her to ground.

A few weeks back he had tried to chop off the ears of an elderly woman with a sharp-edged weapon to loot her diamond ear rings. However, he failed in his attempt but the victim was injured badly.

'He used some sharp-edged weapon or car spare parts to injure his target before forcibly snatching the jewellery worn by her. We are also hoping to recover more stolen cars after his interrogation,' stated Srivastava.