Gangs On Bikes Target Lone Women; 10 Cases In 48 Hrs
Hyderabad:With gold prices inching towards Rs 30,000 a tola, chain-snatching incidents too have skyrocketed in the city. In the past 48 hours alone, there have been at least 10 cases where women walking alone were targeted: the victims losing nearly 35 tolas and the chain snatchers netting a cool Rs 10 lakh. Over the past one week, there have been over 20 such cases.
On Monday, lone men on bikes struck five times in the Cyberabad limits. The booty: 20 tolas of gold. The attacks began around 7.15am and continued till 10am and the areas targeted were Kukatpally, Phase VI of KPHB and Green Hills Colony to Shiva Ganga Colony near LB Nagar courts – the last place in the list being hit thrice within an hour. “My aunt was returning home after her morning walk in JNTU campus when she was attacked. She lost her mangalsutra and blackbead chain. The biker sped towards Rajiv Circle after the attack,” said a family member of Mahalakshmi (60) who was attacked near Maharashtra Bank in Kukatpally. According to LB Nagar assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Amarender Reddy, all the cases involved women walking alone.
On Sunday, however, it was a team of two on single bikes that struck five times at Amberpet, KPHB and Karkhana and escaped with 15 tolas of gold. The targets here were heavilydecked women returning from functions. Apart from these, there have been several other incidents in the
past one week. Sunita, a housewife who lost a gold chain and mangalsutra weighing about three tolas on Friday, said: “My brother was admitted to Kamineni hospital, King Koti, and in the evening when I walked out to purchase a toothpaste, two men came on a bike from the opposite direction and snatched my chain. They then sped towards Boggulkunta. It took me a whole day to recover from the shock.” Lure of gold spawns snatchers
According to cops, more than one gang was operating in the city. “The lure of gold – a three-tola gold chain can fetch nearly Rs 1 lakh – has spawned several gangs from quiet residential areas like Marredpally to heavily populated business centres like Koti,” said a senior cop.
Cops have now formed special teams to nab the culprits. The LB Nagar police has also released a sketch of the suspect. With many students being arrested earlier for snatching offences, the Cyberabad police is now busy photographing youngsters on Pulsar bikes during vehicle checks. “We started this exercise from Nov 1 and after every chain snatching we show these photos to the victims,” LB Nagar DCP M N Kumar said.
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