Bike gang goes on snatching spree

HYDERABAD: On a day when the state home minister remarked in the assembly that the city is turning “a dangerous place to live,” chain-snatchers struck in quick succession at several places in Secunderabad and Chandanagar in broad daylight and stole 25 tolas of gold.
The first snatching occured at 10.30 am at RR Nagar in Bowenpally. Two bike-borne men snatched a five-tola gold chain from a housewife, Prameela, 48, when she was returning home after visiting a laundry store.
At 10.50, the gang went to the government girls’ high school in West Marredpally and snatched a six-tola gold chain of a teacher, Vijaya Lakshmi, 30, at the entrance of the institution. The snatchers entered the school premises on the bike and as the victim was about to reach the entrance, came from the opposite direction and snatched her chain, West Marredpally inspector (detective) B Narahari said.
Around 11 am, the two men, said to be in their twenties and riding a black Pulsar, reached Mahatma Gandhi statue on MG Road and snatched a seven-tola gold chain from 48-year-old housewife Sangeeta from Chennai. Sangeeta was visiting her parents at West Marredpally and the incident occured when she went for shopping with her relatives.
There were CCTV cameras in front of shops where the incident occurred on MG Road, but the snatchers’ faces and the vehicle number could not be identified. There were no cameras at the other two crime scenes. Police are analyzing traffic camera footage.
Meanwhile, snatchers also struck at two places in Chandanagar and stole six tolas of gold from two housewives on Monday. At 9.20 am, snatchers stole the mangalsutra of B Madhavi, 43, from Huda Colony while she was walking towards the Chandanagar railway station.
The same gang snatched the gold chain of Laxmi of Sanga Reddy at Gangaram at 12.25 pm. Here too, the culprits were travelling on a black Pulsar bike.