Attention diversion gang member held

​Hyderabad: The east zone task force police on Saturday held a gems seller from Madhya Pradesh, who was involved in two cases of attention diversion.

According to police, Showkath Ali (56) of Huzur mandal in Madhya Pradesh, a gems seller, became friends with one Mashaallah (75) of a village in MP. For extra money, they hatched a plan to cheat public by impersonating as police officers and extort money from innocent persons.

Accordingly, on August 1, Mashaallah and Showkath met in Pune and purchased a bicycle there. They came to Hyderabad along with the bicycle in a bus and stayed in a lodge near Nampally Railways Station.

On August 3, the duo left the lodge on bicycle and started searching for innocent people carrying luggage bags. On reaching Butterfly Bakery at Mahankali police station limits, they found a businessman walking with three bags, including a cash bag.

Showkath and Mashaallah stopped him by impersonating as police officers and asked him to show the bags as they received information that some persons were carrying ‘Brown Sugar’ in luggage bags.

The innocent businessman opened the bags to show the duo, but they diverted his attention and fled with Rs 7.5 lakh cash present in the bag.

Task Force Additional DCP N Koti Reddy said the duo was wanted two cases of attention diversion and thefts at Mahankali and Market police stations.

Acting on a tip-off, a team nabbed Showkath and recovered the stolen cash. A team is working on clues to nab the absconding Mashaallah, he said.