Hyderabad: Class IX student Shiva Kumar was busy doing homework at home on Saturday night when he heard an unusual sound from his neighbourhood in Katedan. As he looked at that direction from where the sound came he saw some men trying to break the door of his neighbour’s house.
Shiva Kumar shouted and soon, Babu Yadav, who was around, called his friends and confronted the thieves. Two burglars ran away. But Babu Yadav and his friends caught the main culprit who was trying to decamp with 100 grams gold and some cash.
Both Shiva Kumar and Babu Yadav were congratulated by Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand.
Some residents of Cyberabad have set an example by helping the police catch dangerous criminals and providing vital information. They have chased chain snatchers, burglars and even murderers.
They also help orphans and unknown persons, provide medical treatment or shift dead bodies to mortuaries.
These ‘heroes’ are now being recognised by the Cyberabad police.
In one case, when an armed robber was trying to flee after killing an 80- year-old woman named Rajeswari at Sai Maruthi Nagar, Bandi Laxman, 40, and Bandi Sammaiah, 50, caught him and handed him over to the police.
Many people were reluctant to chase the suspect as he was armed.
In another case, K. Kiran, 25, stopped a chain snatcher in Petbasheerabad, who targeted a woman and caught him before alerting the cops. The offender, Krishna Prasad, was an absconder.
Donthi Satyanarayana Goud, 40, from Chandanagar, put up banners alerting people about chain snatching and attention diversion gangs. Police says that due to his efforts crime came down drastically in the area.
Similarly Harbhan Singh and Mohammad Moula from Sikh Chawani in Rajendranagar have been trying to build peace after the 2014 riot.
Another man, Mongillipalli Srinivas, 34, has been taking dead bodies to the Gandhi Hospital mortuary and taking orphans to state homes.
City cops laud citizens’ efforts
The police considers public intervention vital in fighting crime. Recently the Cyberabad police recognised the public’s efforts to help the department and rewarded crime fighters with ‘Good Citizen’ awards. The cops say that none of them violated the law as they fought crime with the help of the police.
“Since they went out of their way to help the police by catching criminals and gave vital information, we are giving them Good Citizens award,” said Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand.
The officials say that this is not vigilantism but acting responsibly. “Their intervention was spontaneous and none of them are vigilantes. Many people ignore such situations but they helped the police,” said Mr Anand.
The police say that some of them even risked their lives by catching armed criminals. “They did not know that they were chasing an armed criminal,
but they chose to do it. Their action helped the police. So they deserve recognition,” said a higher official from Cyberabad.
