Fear grips Hyderabad residents after six chain snatchings in two hours

Hyderabad: Residents of Hyderabad woke up to a scary Saturday. Three chain snatchings took place in six locations in the limits of the Hyderabad tri-commissionerate area on Saturday morning, keeping the police on their toes.

According to sources, two of the incidents happened under Uppal, and one each in Ramgolpalpeta, Nacharam, Chilakaguda, and Osmania University police station limits. All six incidents happened early in the morning within two hours.

The first chain snatching incident happened at 6:20 a.m at Rajdhani in Uppal. This was followed by a series of similar incidents—at 6:40 a.m in Kalyanpuri in Uppal; at 7:10 a.m in Nagendra Nagar in Nacharam; at 7:40 a.m in Ravindar Nagar in Osmania University Main Road; at 8 a.m near Ramalaya Gundu in Chikalguda; and at 8:10 a.m in Ramagopalpet.

CCTV footage from one of the six locations shows two people coming on a bike, entering the house, and snatching the chain from a woman. Both the woman and her husband go after the bike.

In the CCTV footage from another location, two persons can be seen on a bike. One of them enters the house and snatches the chain from a woman and hurriedly gets onto the bike. The woman can be seen running behind the bike.

"Two persons were involved in the crime which happened at Nagender Nagar in Habisguda at around 7 a.m. The chain of a 70-year-old woman was snatched by the two people," said T. Kiran Kumar, the SHO of Nacharam police station. He added that their connection with the Delhi gang is being verified and is yet to be confirmed.

Cases have been registered in the respective police stations and the police are on the hunt for the chain snatchers.

In the wake of the incidents, all police stations have been alerted and checking has been intensified at check posts, railway stations, and airports. The police have also asked the women in the city to be cautious.

Later, addressing the media, Rachakonda CP DS Chauhan said, "In the chain snatching incidents, the modus operandi is the accused from other states usually visit the city a day before, stay at a hotel at night and do snatching in the mornings. They immediately abscond from the city. In the incident which happened today, we will soon solve the case."