The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Their acts of bravery bring them honour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 15, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Their acts of bravery bring them honour

Staff Reporter

35 persons to be given appreciation letters and mementoes today for exhibiting bravery in their own way 35 persons will be given appreciation letters and mementoes today for exhibiting bravery in their own way

WELL DONE: M. Mahendra Reddy, Commissioner of Cyberabad Police, greeting `brave' citizens of Cyberabad as Soumya Misra, DCP (Crime), and Vijay Kumar, DCP (Law and Order), look on at an interactive meeting in Hyderabad on Monday. — PHOTO: P.V.S ivakumar

HYDERABAD: Wrinkled skin and a frail body make 55-year-old Pochamma look like an easy target for an offender. But the lion-hearted woman proved everyone wrong by taking on a chain snatcher head-on and even pinning him down successfully at a local vegetable market in Chintal area of Jeedimetla!

Pochamma and 34 others like her, who have shown exemplary courage helping Cyberabad police catch criminals in the past one year, will be given appreciation letters on the eve of Independence Day on Tuesday. She was sharing details of the incident at an interactive session organised by the Cyberabad Police here on Monday.

"A man came from behind and pulled the necklace. I immediately caught hold of the chain, but the stranger was too strong and pushed me down," Pochamma recalled. She fell down but clung to the necklace resiliently making it difficult for the assailant to take it away. In the melee, the snatcher too fell down only to be caught by passers by. "I never thought I could take him on but at that moment my sole aim was not to allow him get away," the smiling woman explained.

Robbery bid foiled

B. Pushpa, a housewife, was equally daring. When three robbers barged into her house during daytime at Kukatpally last month, she rushed out and bolted the doors from outside leaving the trio confined in the house. "While I was hurrying down, the fourth member of the gang waiting outside tried to stop me, but I pushed him down and called in the neighbours," the courageous woman told reporters. All the four robbers were later handed over to the police.

Cyberabad Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy said 35 such brave persons were being given appreciation letters and mementoes as a token of honour. "They have proved how individuals can help police check crime," he said. He appealed to the people to alert policemen if they come across suspicious persons, accidents or any other offences to the Cyberabad Police Control Room on numbers 98499-00487, 27852923, 27852818.

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