Hyderabad: Seven members of the Snake Gang, who had terrorised the city’s outskirts by running kangaroo courts and targeting women, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court on Wednesday.
Though rape charges were dropped by the court, the gangsters were convicted for the molestation of a young woman and the violent assault on her boyfriend at a farmhouse in 2014.
The special sessions judge of Ranga Reddy district convicted gang leader Faisal Dayani, who a gym instructor, and six other gang members, under Section 452 (illegal trespass), 395 (dacoity), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354B (use of criminal force on any woman with the intention of disrobing).
The eighth member of the gang was convicted only under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), while the ninth member was acquitted of the same charge.
The gang earned its name after they used snakes to threaten victims. Pronouncing the judgement, Judge V. Vara Prasad sentenced Dayani and six others — Khader B, Tayyab B, Mohd Pervez, Sayyed Anwar, Khaja Ahmed and Mohd Ibrahim — to life imprisonment and directed them to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each. Besides the life sentence, they were also sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
Cyberabad police said they were satisfied with the sentence. But police commissioner C.V. Anand said the police will continue efforts to prove the rape charges against the gang, which was dropped by the court due to lack of victim testimony.
Police had arrested the gang after an 18-year-old girl said she was sexually assaulted by them at a farmhouse in Shaheen Nagar on July 31, 2014. The gang had broken into the farmhouse and had forced the victim to strip after threatening her with a snake.
It was claimed they proceeded to rape the girl in front of her fiance, who was beaten. But police failed to prove the rape charges as the victim did not confirm it. The eighth convict, Ali B, was sentenced to 20 months RI. He has already spent this period in jail.
All the eight convicts were present in court for the judgement. The gang was also involved in land grabbing and running kangaroo courts in the city's outskirts.
