Grandma-led family gang held for chain-snatchings

Tirupati: The Central Crime Station (CCS) police arrested a chain-snatching gang and recovered 214 grams of gold worth Rs 6.22 lakh from them. Interestingly, all the three belong to a same family.

They have been residing at Amberpet in Hyderabad, Telangana State for the last few years and snatching chains and thefts. The CCS cops identified them as Tulasi alias Nirmala (58), her daughter M Lakshmi (35) and her granddaughter M Kumari alias Sony (19).    

On a tip off, the cops nabbed them near Tiruchanur temple on Monday. According to Additional SP (Crime) Sidda Reddy and DSP Ravisankar Reddy, the modus operandi of the gang used to snatch gold ornaments from the necks of women during the religious festivals at temples and crowded places.

Also, the gang used to steal gold jewellery, cash and other valuables from the commuter bags while travelling in service autos in the guise of co-passengers in various cities of Telugu states.

The cops said all the three used to stay in luxury hotels for 15 days while committing chain-snatchings and thefts. So far, the gang was involved in 92 chain-snatching and theft cases under the limits of the Hyderabad city. The Urban police have registered 8 cases against the accused in the police station limits of Tiruchanur and Tirupati city.

Sidda Reddy said women gang members were selling the stolen gold ornaments to local pawn brokers in Hyderabad and were leading a lavish life in Amberpet. CCS CI A Padmalatha has arrested the accused and produced them before the media here on Monday. 

The cops revealed that Nirmala had served sentence in jail and her granddaughter Sony went to juvenile home in a burglary case. The accused were sent to judicial remand.