Hyderabad: Commuters using public transport and pedestrians will have to be extra cautious about their safety at night as extortion gangs are on the prowl in the city.
Not only do they snatch away their belongings, they also harass them in public.
Ravi Kumar, Circle Inspector, Special Operations Team, LB Nagar, said, “Families from regions like Kurnool, Ananthapur, Guntur and Vijaywada who have settled in the city’s slum areas to earn a living, are resorting to this kind of crime, with the help of younger members of their families. Each of the accused involved is between the age group of 20 to 25 years.”
These groups operate between 10 pm and 12 midnight. They jump into autos and buses carrying late night commuters and first take away their belongings like money and cell phones and they start harassing them like pinching them or cracking vulgar jokes.
Till they take away the belongings, the accused behave like regular commuters, said the police official.
“These offenders generally target women and businessmen in areas where there are no CCTV cameras, they sometimes come on bike, snatch away the bags of businessmen and women and flee. Many a times during investigation when we have questioned the accused as to why they go into that particular area only, they have confessed that there were no CCTV cameras in that particular area,” the Circle Inspector added.
To counter this, anti-snatching teams, police station crime teams have been deployed in different areas that are prone to such kind of offences and from places where complaints pour in.
The accused who are caught in such offences are booked under 384 IPC where if they are convicted, they are likely to face an imprisonment up to two years and would have to pay a fine amount as decided by the court.
