HYDERABAD: Autorickshaw drivers mobbing passengers demanding exorbitant fares is a common scene near Secunderabad Railway Station.

This unchecked menace proved costly for a senior couple when an unidentified autorickshaw driver took away two of their suitcases containing jewellery worth Rs. 6 lakhs on Wednesday.

A bank employee, Babai Pantulu, 55, and his wife, Mangamma, arrived at the station around 5.15 a.m. by Machilipatnam Express.

Even as they were walking towards the autorickshaw stand, a group of drivers surrounded them. When Mr. Pantulu said he wanted to go to Ramnagar Gundu, they demanded Rs. 60.

Taken aback, the bank employee said he would pay half-return fare, but the drivers insisted for Rs. 60.

Meanwhile, another person claiming to be a driver, said he would take only Rs. 50 and grabbed the two suitcases he was carrying and walked towards a parked three-wheeler.

"Thinking that he would return with the autorickshaw to pick up us we stood there," Mr. Pantulu told The Hindu over phone.

But, the driver did not turn up. A worried Pantulu frantically searched the area for the driver in vain and approached the Gopalapuram police.

Asked if there were no policemen around to regulate the autorickshaw drivers, the bank employee said he had seen none.

Passports also lost

Manager of State Bank of India at Machilipatnam, Mr. Pantulu was recently transferred to Hyderabad and was supposed to join duty in a couple of days.

On arriving at the station, he wanted to go to a relative's house in Ramnagar.

Along with the jewellery, important documents, including passports of the couple, were also lost.

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