The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Chain-snatchers continue to strike at will

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Saturday, Jul 08, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Chain-snatchers continue to strike at will

Law &Order While chain-snatchers get more audacious by the day, sleuths become helpless watchers for various reasons, writes Marri Ramu

There is one peculiarty about chain snatchers in the State capital's crime world. They rise like Phoenix and strike at will notwithstanding the arrest of one or two offenders on and off by the police.

From stepping up vigilance in areas where snatchers strike frequently to keeping a tab on habitual offenders, detectives are trying every trick in their basket only to watch helplessly as snatchers hit at new localities and at odd timings.

Sleuths deduced many theories about snatchings. One was that most of these offences were committed in interior lanes and by-lanes where visibility of police was less. But two motorcycle-borne youngsters proved them wrong recently by grabbing the mobile phone of a housewife walking on the main road of Kundanbagh, where many VVIPs, including the State police chief, live.

So audacious were the criminals that they continued to move in the area. The victim was horrified to see them again three days later at the same place. If thieves dare to commit a crime and keep roaming about in Kundanbagh, one of the highly protected zones in the State capital, one can imagine fate of people in other localities.

Creating panic

Compared to thefts and burglary, the worth of property lost in snatchings is much less. But, the way snatchers lunge at lonely women and grab valuables, sometimes resulting in injuries to them, is creating panic among people.

But where are things going wrong and what happened to the much-touted crime prevention techniques adopted by the police? Detectives concede that catching a person, who indulges in snatching for the first time, is difficult. Unless the victim or a passer-by notes down the vehicle number, there is no clue for police to track down culprits.

Surveillance on habitual offenders has been of little use because they are frequently changing houses, some officers observe.

Earlier, police proposed registering all complaints of chain snatchings as robberies and even officially announced it. But the idea had been dropped due to legal constraints.

Police higher-ups found that in some cases accused got ex parte bail since the police prosecutor was not present. In a few cases, failure to convince court not to grant bail immediately also helped the accused.

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Andhra Pradesh