‘Chappal chor’ steals footwear from 4 flats

Hyderabad: In a bizarre incident, the ‘chappal chor’ gang targeted several flats of the four apartments in Moosarambagh and stole several dozen of chappals, sandals and shoes including those of two police officers. The residents were shocked on Thursday when they saw their footwear were missing.

Upon learning about the incident, residents from neighbouring flats recognised they had experienced a similar issue and decided to review the CCTV footage. They discovered a group of individuals arriving in an auto rickshaw during the night, who had stolen their shoes.

In the footage, the burglars were seen entering into the apartment complex and leaving with various shoes. Among the victims were an inspector and a sub-inspector, both of whom had their uniform footwear taken.

A complaint was filed at the Malakpet police station, and police took up an investigation.

In a similar incident held in February, an individual stole the doctor’s shoes from the Yashoda Hospital in Somajiguda. CCTV footage showed the thief leaving the hospital wearing ten shoes.

In December last year, scores of pairs of shoes were recovered from the house at Vasavi Nagar in Uppal. A couple, who allegedly stole branded footwear from residential colonies and then sold them in open weekly markets, was caught red-handed. The residents of a colony apprehended them after they found that footwear in their neighbourhood was regularly missing. On suspicion the residents checked the house in the colony and to their surprise found scores of pairs of shoes of different sizes. The residents alleged that the couple was stealing the footwear in residential colonies during the night and selling them in the weekly market in Borabanda.