Hyderabad: Eighteen members of a gang were arrested on Tuesday, 24 June, in connection with a case of dacoity in Hyderabad. Authorities seized 59 grams of gold and cash amounting to Rs 43 lakh from their possession.
The accused, all natives of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, posed as officials from the Special Operations Team (SOT), Cyberabad. The case came to light after the complainant, Hariram, approached the police. He stated that an acquaintance named Radheshyam had offered to sell him 1 kg of gold at a five percent discount on the prevailing market rate.
Radheshyam insisted that the payment be made in liquid cash. Initially, Hariram was introduced to a group of five unknown individuals. Later, Radheshyam and one Rambabu visited Hariram’s office to verify the availability of the cash and confirmed it to their associates over the phone.
Subsequently, four men arrived at Hariram’s office, claiming to be officials of SOT Cyberabad. One of them, identifying himself as Keshavulu, even displayed an ID card. They assaulted Hariram and seized the bag of cash, along with the mobile phones of Hariram, Rambabu, and Radheshyam, while issuing threats. The group then fled in a car and two motorbikes.
The arrested individuals were identified as:
- Chandra Shekar Verma, 38; Nagaraju Kumar, 33; Bodduju Praveen Chary, 26; and Meesala Keshavulu, 33 — all natives of Andhra Pradesh
- Bollepally Vijaya Sekhar Raju, 45, from Nalgonda, Telangana
- Rehni Vinod Kumar, 36; Bhukya Rambabu Naik, 23, from Malkajgiri; Sunkaripally Bhanu Prakash, 22; Shaik Nab, 23; Mantri Venkatesh, 49; Radheshyam Mundada, 26; Tanga Dinesh Sai, 31; Geedi Aravind, 21; Yerolla Rajesh, 30; and Chepuri Surender, 26, all residents of Hyderabad
- Kella Uma Mahesh, 24, native of Andhra Pradesh
- N Tirumalesh, 28, native of Telangana
According to police, Chandra Shekar and Nagaraju masterminded the plot. They posed as gold traders offering bullion at a discounted rate to lure individuals with large sums of liquid cash. Their true intention was to stage a robbery during the deal. Nagaraju contacted an associate named Suresh, who claimed to have links in the Pot Market. Upon receiving a positive response from Suresh, the duo moved forward with the plan.
On 18 June, the accused met at the Blue Sea Hotel to finalise the plot. Later, Nagaraju and others attempted to convince Hariram of the legitimacy of the offer. One of the absconding accused, Sai Baba, even showed an online account balance to gain trust. Following this, Rambabu and Hariram went to the latter’s office to verify the cash, and the location was passed on to the rest of the gang.
Soon after, Keshavulu, Raju, Vinod, and Teja arrived at the office posing as police officers, seized the cash and mobile phones, and fled. During the escape, Keshavulu handed over the bag of cash to Rambabu, who left the scene on a motorbike with Bhanu.
While fleeing, the duo was intercepted at Trimulgherry by four individuals from a separate “Vehicle Recovery Team” who identified Bhanu’s motorbike as one with a loan default. These men searched the bag, discovered the cash, and robbed it under threat of false police action.
After being informed of the theft, Chandra Shekar confronted Bhanu and his associates. Venkatesh subsequently summoned a few local contacts who detained and assaulted Bhanu and others at Ghatkesar.
Following Hariram’s complaint, the Market Police examined footage from 100 CCTV cameras and collected witness statements. The investigation uncovered the involvement of two separate criminal groups in the incident.
