Market police bust dacoit gang; cash, gold recovered
Hyderabad: The Market police have apprehended 18 individuals involved in a dacoity, recovering Rs 43 lakh in cash and 59 grams of gold from their possession.
Those arrested include Chandra Shekar Verma, Nagaraju Kumar Verma, Bodduju Praveen Chary, Meesala Keshavulu, Bollepally Vijaya Sekhar Raju, Rehni Vinod Kumar alias Vinay, Bhukya Rambabu Naik, Sunkaripally Bhanu Prakash, Shaik Nabi Shahrukh Khan, Kella Uma Mahesh, Mantri Venkatesh, Radheshyam Mundada, N Tirumalesh, Tanga Dinesh Sai, Roshan Sunil, Geedi Aravind, Yerolla Rajesh, and Chepuri Surender. Meanwhile, other accused Suresh, Teja, Srikanth, Sai Baba, Auto Baba Babloo, Ashok, Pasha, Bhaskar, Mahesh, and Farooq are currently absconding.
According to police, a complaint was received from Sri Hariram, a resident of Bowenpally. In his complaint, he stated that a known individual, Radheshyam, offered him a deal to purchase 1 kg of gold at a 5% discount on the market rate, on the condition of payment in liquid cash.
Initially, the complainant was introduced to a group of five unknown persons. Subsequently, Radheshyam and Rambabu visited the complainant’s office to verify the availability of the liquid cash and confirmed it to their associates over the phone.
Following this, four unknown individuals entered the premises, posing as officials from the Special Operations Team (SOT), Rachakonda Commissionerate. One of them identified himself as Keshavulu and displayed an ID card. These individuals then assaulted the complainant, seizing a bag containing cash along with the mobile phones of the complainant, Rambabu, and Radheshyam, while issuing threats. They fled the scene using a car and two motorbikes.
Rashmi Perumal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, North Zone, explained that Shekar and Nagaraju, who are brothers, devised a plan to impersonate gold traders, offering gold at a discounted rate to lure victims with large amounts of liquid cash. Their actual intent was to stage a robbery during the transaction.
Nagaraju reportedly contacted Suresh, who claimed to have connections in Pot Market. Upon Suresh’s confirmation, both decided to proceed with the plan. A meeting was held at the Blue Sea Hotel on June 18 with 15 members to finalise the scheme. Later, Nagaraju and others met the complainant and convinced him of the legitimacy of the gold deal.
Subsequently, Rambabu and the complainant went to his office to verify the cash, and the location details were shared with the robbers. Following the plan, Keshavulu, along with Vijaya, Vinod, and Teja, arrived at the location posing as police officers, seized the cash and mobile phones, and fled. While escaping, Keshavulu handed over the cash to Rambabu, who then departed on a motorbike with Bhanu.
During their escape, four individuals from a separate Vehicle Recovery Team, who recognised Bhanu’s motorbike as an EMI default vehicle, intercepted them at Trimulgherry. They searched the bag, discovered the cash, and robbed it under the threat of false police action.
After learning about this incident, Shekar confronted Bhanu and others. Mantri Venkatesh then summoned local associates who detained and assaulted Bhanu and the others at Ghatkesar.
“Through the examination of over 100 CCTV cameras and witness statements, credible information, the investigation revealed the involvement of two distinct criminal groups - the original dacoity gang who executed the fake gold deal and robbed the complainant, and a secondary group, reportedly a vehicle seizure team, who robbed the original robbers,” said Rashmi Perumal.
