Engineering students turn thieves, held

Hyderabad: Six persons including two engineering students and a college dropout have been arrested by the Santoshnagar police on Monday on charges of stealing mobile phones and bikes. On a tip-off, the Santosh Nagar police apprehended Badal Bhim Raj (18) and Maheshwaram Ganesh alias Mittu (18) at Sreenivasa Hospital junction at Santoshnagar and recovered stolen mobile phones and a bike from them.

Further probe revealed that a gang was operating in and round of Meerpet, Hayathnagar, Adibatla, Saroornagar, Chaitanyapuri and Santoshnagar to snatch mobile phones and steal bikes. The accused confessed to have involved in 12 such cases. The engineering students confessed to have attracted to the lavish lifestyle of their friends who were committing offenses, and joined them.

Basing on their confession, the police arrested the gang leader Gyneshwar Reddy (20), resident of Karmanghat, who is pursuing engineering at AVN College in Ibrahimpatnam, Suresh (21), a milk vendor, an expert in disposal of stolen mobiles, Sai Kumar (19), a bike mechanic, expert in unlocking bikes, Badal Bhim Raj (19), a college dropout, an expert in driving bikes at a high-speed, MD Sadiq (20), engineering student at TKR College, who steals mobile phones and bikes.

South Zone DCP V Satyanarayana on Monday said the accused stole a bike and then used it while committing snatching of phones. They abandon the bike at some place nearer to stolen spot within hours. In some cases, they changed the bikes’ registration numbers and modified them to avoid identification. They targeted student hostels and mostly stole items from the student community.

The teams recovered tools kits used to unlock the mobiles, seven bikes, one laptop, a Tab and 10 mobile phones from them. “A search is on to nab the absconding bike mechanic Gopal alias Shandy (20),” the DCP added.