Telangana Police issue alert after Hyderabad reports 6 chain-snatching incidents in 2 hours

Police issued a state-wide alert across Telangana after at least six incidents of chain snatching were reported from different parts of Hyderabad within a span of two hours early on Saturday. Even as officers are on the hunt for the bike-borne men whose images were captured by CCTV cameras, an alert has been issued at places including the airport, railway stations and bus stations.

Prima facie, police suspect the handiwork of an interstate gang. “We suspect the involvement of a Delhi-based gang behind all these incidents. We have deployed teams and issued alerts to prevent them from fleeing the city. Efforts are on to identify the suspects from the CCTV footage,” said a police official.

It all happened between 6 am and 8 am Saturday. According to the police, the first incident was reported from the Rajadhani colony in Uppal at 6.20 am. Within 20 minutes, at the nearby Kalyanpuri colony in Uppal, another woman lost her gold chain to the bike-borne snatchers at 6.40 am. Two cases have been registered at Uppal police station.

Further, at around 7.10 am, the suspects snatched the chain of another woman at Nagendra Nagar under Nacharam police station



before proceeding to Ravindra Nagar under Osmania University police station where they reportedly snatched the chain of another woman at 7.40 am. Two more incidents were reported at 8 am and 8.10 am – the first one near Ramalayam Gundu under Chilkalguda police station and the other near the MMTS station under Ramgopalpet police station.

While the first three incidents were reported under the limits of the Rachakonda police commissionerate, the next three took place at adjoining police stations under the Hyderabad police commissionerate. Special teams of both commissionerates are on the hunt for the suspects.

Confirming that the victims were unharmed, but in an initial state of shock, another official said a few suspects have been identified and their criminal antecedents are being verified.

According to the police, the suspects left their bike near Secunderabad, which the police believe could be part of their escape plan to catch a train from the Secunderabad railway station. “We have some leads and we are working on them. From the footage, they look the same. They seem to have committed a series of offences. We are coordinating,” the officer said.