Traffic Cops to Get A Day-off During Weekends

"The decision has been taken to boost efficiency of the traffic policemen and enable them joy a day with their families and friends" - CV Anand, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic)
 

The policemen working in the Hyderabad traffic police can from now on enjoy their weekends with their family members and friends. In what is a new plan being drafted by police officials, cops manning the roads will be able to get a day-off during weekends on rotation basis. The new weekend holidays will be effective from next week and it will be for the first time that such a measure will be initiated for traffic personnel. CV Anand, additional commissioner of police (Traffic) said the holidays will be given to each staff member from the rank of assistant commissioner of police to sub-inspectors. Talking about the drive against drunken driving during weekends, Anand said they would constitute 20 teams to control drunken driving. "When these teams work at night as per the new initiative, the staff will have one-day holiday during the weekends. The decision has been taken to boost professional efficiency and promote high moral values and social ethics, enabling the personnel to enjoy weekly offs with their families. The break will reduce their burden and help them cope with the pressures of work better,'' he explained. GVG Ashok, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic) said each team will have at least seven staff members including home guards and constables and would be headed by either an inspector or SI. As many as 360 traffic police will get an off day during the weekend under the new scheme.

Traffic police strength
Inspectors- 19
Sub-inspectors- 77
Assistant SIs- 13
Head constables- 172
Constables- 846
Home Guards- 1,276
Total- 3,236

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Talla Ravi has links with Chota Rajan

Known to be a professional shooter, Talla Ravi, who was among those arrested by the Cyberabad police today is said to be having links with gangster Chota Rajan. Talla Ravi was involved in various offences in the city while his wife Priya conducted recee for his smooth operation,' said Cyberabad Police Commissioner Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao. A 30-year-old Bantu Jagadish Talla alias Bantu Talla and Talla Ravi, native of Palkol in West Godavari district is said to have been maintaining good relations with the Chota Rajan gangs after his family shifted to Mumbai for livelihood. First time in the city, Ravi's gang members opened fire on city police. Ravi who was key accused of a ten member robbery gang that opened fire on Madhapur police at Kondapur junction when police tried to chase them after the gang members chalking out a plan to loot Rs 35 lakh from Balaji Wine shop at Kondapur. Ravi is one of the accused of ten members who arrested by Madhapur police today. ``Ravi opened fire on Madhapur police at least three rounds from his illegal country-made pistols that were purchased in Uttar Pradesh. Ravi, who expert in gun shoot, opened fore on a civilian Srinivas in front of Sewree Court. In another incident, he opened fire on Sub Inspector of Police Adhai in Rabele Police station limit in Maharashtra,'' Police commissioner said. Tirumala Rao said that after retuning to the city, Ravi trained his gang members in revolver shooting a secrete place at Zaheerabad in Medak district. Ravi and his wife Priya participated in revolver shooting to train their gang members. He always carries at least one revolver along with him. ``He came to contact with the Chota Rajan when his sister Meena was married to Naresh Thaku, native of Uttar Pradesh and who is close associated with Chota Rajan gang. After Naresh Thakur arresting by the Bangalore police and Ravi's father Jagadish died due to ill health, Ravi faced severe financial crisis and started maintaining a gang and involved in notorious robberies. Ravi's gang involved high profile offences like bank and jewellery shop robberies. In the city, the gang involved in four robberies while they were involved as many as 16- robbery cases in Mumbai and Pune. We also recovered documents of a flat and open land of Ravi worth of Rs 25 lakh. The property was purchased by Ravi in Uttar Pradesh,'' the CP said. Facing Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in killing a civilian in front of a court by Mumbai police, Ravi has a desire to take training in operating new model weapons. After interrogating into such cases, the Cyberabad police are likely to hand over him to Mumbai police.
 Talla Ravi's criminal past: Talla ravi got involved in the crime world in the year 1994. He was involved in a case of brawl in 1994 in Antop Hills Police station in Maharashtra. His first major offence was a case of bank dacoity in Byculla Police limits in Mumbai city in 2000. He was involved in a attempt to murder case in 2001 in Nehry nagar Police limits in Mumbai. His crime graph went up in 2005 when he joined hands with Chandrasetti gang, a notorious dacoity gang leader in Maharashtra.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Cops to be trained in controlling drunk driving

Enforcing laws and educating people are the only solutions to prevent drunken driving accidents and this has been proved in many countries where using latest instruments which record evidence, policemen are able to check the menace, said Des Myers, former chief inspector, Victoria Police, Australia. Myers is in the city to provide training to traffic police as part of the Global Road Safety Partnership in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. Myers, who worked for Victoria Police for 27 years as chief inspector (commissioner of police rank) is an experienced police trainer in general and a specialist in traffic policing. Since 1998, he has been provided police management training in 17 countries including Australia, United States, Canada, South Africa, Botswana, Ethiopia, Middle East, Poland, Russia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia."While the number of road accidents are reported due to drunken driving by four-wheelers from Western countries, the accidents ratio is doubled in economically emerging countries like India where two-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles are involved in drunken driving accidents. Hyderabad also stands top in reporting such cases and that is why it has been selected by the WHO as part of the GRSP initiative,'' explained Des Myers. He said he would train traffic police in trends in international road safety management, drink driving laws, challenges in drunk driving enforcement, principles of effective enforcement, safe check point operations and practical training in breath testing devices. "Law enforcement is the major task in police profession. We can do it when we provide proper training to traffic police while distributing latest instruments to nab the accused caught driving in a drunken state. Various instruments made as per international standards will help police prevent drunken driving,'' he said.
Dangerous driving :
- 574 two-wheelers and 571 four-wheelers involved in road accidents up to Sept 2011. 9,380 drunk driving cases reported up to Sept 2011. Cases of drunk driving increase during weekends with Saturday figures at 290 and Sundays with 312 cases. 316 accused are youngsters between 25-30 years, 292 between 20-25 years and 240 between 30-40 years

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

‘Rich’ students found to be drug buyers

Police found that clients of the two Nigerian nationals, who were arrested for drug peddling on Sunday, are mostly students of corporate colleges and top educational institutions and belong to rich families.They themselves have been hooked on to drugs, police said.Okechnkwu Ohazurike (30), the prime accused, hails from Owerri Imo in Nigeria and sells ready-made garments in Mumbai for his livelihood while Sakiry Oladotum Akinsalo (53) hails from Lagos in Nigeria and runs a spare parts business in Hyderabad and is a resident of Sainikpuri.Police said that Ohazurike used to attract customers, especially students, and sell them drugs.He used to carry out all his transactions via social networking sites like Facebook, from Mumbai.He used to stay in touch with his student clients through e-mails, police said.“Ohazurike never met his customers directly.The both accused have been supplying drugs to a section of students in the city,” said Jubilee Hills inspector K Narsing Rao.Also, Ohazurike was arrested by Cyberabad police a few months ago while peddling drugs.The inspector said that a probe is underway to gather the phone numbers of a few customers from the mobile phones of the accused that have been seized.Gmail ids of two students have been found from the seized mobile phones.One of the two students is said to be the son of a managing director of an IT company located in Srinagar colony and another, son of a contractor.  

‘Drugged’ with Dad’s Money:  In a previous incident, two drug peddlers - Mwinyi Kassim Mwaka alias Poyz of Tanzania and Shihab-El-Din alias Mohammed of Sudan - who were arrested by SR Nagar police, also confessed that they had come to the city to supply narcotics to students on their request, said SR Nagar inspector P Krishna Murthy.Students who belong to high-class families get addicted to narcotics and hence purchase them on a regular basis, police said.CCS deputy commissioner of police J Satyanarayana, who is investigating as many as eight cases related to drug peddling, said that the drug peddlers target a particular student group and attract them by offering the drug at `4,000 per gram.“After a few people from the Telugu film industry and bureaucrats being involved in purchase of drugs, the Nigerian drug peddlers have now started to supply drugs to a particular section of students of high-class families, most of them who are residents of Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills,” he added.Similarly, two other drug peddlers who were arrested by Sanjeevareddy Nagar police station about a week ago also revealed that their clients too were mostly students.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Police, Kin Still in Dark About BSNL Official's Whereabouts

Sri Harsha, BSNL sub-divisional engineer, who had been admitted to Medwin Hospital for treatment, has been missing since October 11.

Over the last few days, three-year-old Asin has been asking her grandfather M Sambaiah where her father is but the 65-year-old is at a loss. The elderly man as well as other family members are finding it hard to deflect the child's questions about her father. "'I don't know where he is and how he is doing. I don't know what to tell my granddaughter," says Sambaiah, father-in-law of S Sri Harsha, the sub-divisional engineer in BSNL, who disappeared mysteriously from Medwin hospital on October 11. Till date, both police and family members are clueless about his whereabouts. Sambaiah who went  along with his son, M Sravan to the Abids police station to know the status of the case on Wednesday, had to return home dejected. Sri Harsha (33) who is working in Kurnool had come to the city for treatment at the Medwin hospital at Nampally. Though the investigators themselves appeared baffled about where he could have gone, they have put up posters with his photographs at bus stands, railway stations and other places. "Saritha got married to Harsha four years back. They have two children- Asin and one-year-old Chris. There were no problems between the couple," said Sambaiah. Saritha works as an assistant engineer in Kurnool. Blaming the hospital management for their negligence, M Sravan, Harsha's brother-in-law said even though CCTVs were functioning, it did not record anything. ''The CCTVs did not record anything and therefore the hospital management could not produce video footage. We have our own doubts over his disappearance,'' said Sravan.  After Harsha went missing, the hospital authorities as well as relatives lodged police complaints. As he was suffering from typhoid since the past 20 days, he came to the city for treatment. He was admitted at the Medwin hospital as its the referral hospital for BSNL employees. Harsha wrote a letter asking senior officials to grant him leave and handed it over to his brother for faxing it to his office. Srimantha went out to fax the letter but by the time he returned, Harsha was already missing. Abids inspector K Siva Kumar said that Harsha is a diabetic and was admitted incidentally on the same bed where his father S Madanna, who also worked as SDE in BSNL, died due to diabetes. "Harsha might have got depressed on his condition as he never disclosed he is a diabetic to his wife or in-laws. We have formed a special team to probe the case,'' the inspector said.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

A licence for what? Kill?

There have been three instances of firing in the city in the past fortnight. While Dr Naresh, a surgeon, shot dead a burglar who broke into his house in Jubilee Hills, the other two incidents are more worrisome -- a gang of robbers opened fire on the Madhapur police during a cat and mouse chase at the Kondapur junction and close on the heels of this, came a businessman Sanjay Kumar Pande’s drunken revelry at Bowenpally. Are these isolated incidents or do they point to a section of the population that’s trigger happy? Dr Naresh, who’s also a professional shooter, shot at the burglar as the latter was running for his life. Sanjay Kumar Pande fired in the air simply to celebrate. And the three-member robbers’ gang opened fire to escape from the police. Though unconfirmed reports suggest that owning a firearm is a matter of prestige for hot shots in the twin cities, police dismiss any such notion. “Such things happen in rural areas where the landlord wants to hold a weapon for the sake of prestige. Not in the city,” asserts Mahesh Bhagwat, Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration). According to him, in the past five years, 4,773 arms licences have been issued and at present, there are 6,067 licensed weapons in the city. For each licence, a person is permitted to own 3 weapons. He says most of these licences are given for sports purposes. “A few have weapons left by their fathers and forefathers. They keep it for the sake of sentiment. There are others who apply for licences for personal security such as jewellers and those in construction business. As far as I know, most do not get to use these weapons even once in their lifetime,” the top cop explains. The problem, however, is not just about increased gun licences. Following the sudden spurt in firing incidents, the police are focusing on curbing illegal firearms in the city. Ch Ram Chander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Task Force, concedes that the number of crimes committed using illegal weapons is on the rise but points out that compared to other cities in the country, the city is relatively safe in this regard. “Some, who come from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are involved in illegal weapons’ supply business. We have already set up a few teams to inquire into illegal weapons sales in the twin cities,” he explains. A few dealers from UP and Bihar reportedly sell arms through their agents in the city. It’s estimated that at least 400 illegal weapons have been sold in the city in the last one year alone. Sources said customers pay five per cent of the total cost as advance after which an order is placed and the weapon is delivered in 10 days. In the wake of the attack on MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, most of the corporators, political leaders and businessmen applied for gun licences. But as many as 100 licences were also cancelled after the incident, points out Mahesh Bhagwat. “Even those who have a licence should not open fire without a valid reason. The police have the right to take stern action,” says Ram Chander.

By Mouli Mareedu/Shruthi H M 

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Brilliant Manager-in-making lost to Treacherous Himalayan Adventure

Dasara turned tragic for the family of businessman Damarla Koti Nageswara Rao.They were preparing to start the festivities on October 6, when they got a phone call around 10.30 am informing them of the death of their eldest son Srinath while trekking on the Indo-Nepal border.Twenty-six-year-old Srinath, a student of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), died on October 6 while trekking in Sikkim reportedly due to altitude sickness.The body was brought to their house at Shanmukha Apartments on the Dharam Karam Road on Sunday and the last rites were performed."Srinath wanted to be among the best managers in the banking sector.He had on hand a job offer from BNP Paribas, the European leader in global banking and financial services.He was to join the company after completing the course in December," 55-year-old Nageswara Rao said in a choked voice sitting in front of a photo of his son after completing the last rites."Srinath was never keen on mountaineering or adventure sports.As the campus was closed for Dasara vacation, Srinath joined his friends in the expedition.His only ambition was to reach the highest levels of success in banking sector," said the grief-stricken father recalling the ambitions, achievements and memories of Srinath. Srinath had had an excellent academic record since his school days.After completing B.Tech (computer science) from NIT, Kurukshetra, he worked for Oracle, Bangalore from 2006-10 and bagged the 'most valuable player' in sales consultant and 'best debutante' awards for three consecutive years - 2008, 2009 and 2010. He secured 99.7 score in the Common Admission Test (CAT) and joined the IIM-Calcutta in 2010. At the IIM he was elected as the recruitment coordinator by 69 percent of students, Nageswara Rao said."We lost our son due to the sheer negligence of the travel agency, TAAS, which failed to provide medical aid to Srinath when he suffered altitude sickness.We came to know that a foreign woman in the group also became sick but she recovered.It's a great loss to my family," said a teary-eyed Nageswara Rao showing the awards won by Srinath.Srinath was part of a 40-member group, comprising 26 foreigners and IIM students, which was on its way from Yuksom to Dzongri."Yuksom is 138 kilometres from Gangtok, which is a gateway to Dzongri.The Yuksom-Dzongri trek takes around five days to complete.A road exists only till Yuksom.From there, trekkers have to take the help of guides and porters to reach Dzongri.The group started from Kolkata on September 29.On the way to Dzongri on Sunday, Srinath complained of dizziness, headache and body weakness, the symptoms associated with altitude sickness. “He tried to come back to Yuksom on October 6 with a guide and some porters.He could only reach Tshoka, a midway point on the Dzongri trek," said his brother Sunil, an assistant manager at the IDBI Bank.Sunil brought the body from Sikkim late on Saturday night.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Bihari opens fire during Durga procession

In a scene straightaway from a bollywood movie, a highly drunk security agency owner from Bihar opened fire in the air with his licenced revolver during a Goddess Durga idol procession at Bowenpally yesterday night creating panic among the devotees present there. Dancing to the drum beats surrounded by hundreds of processionists, the Bihari held his .32 revolver in air fired three rounds, police said. The 40-year Bihari, Sanjay Kumar Pande, owns the Shiva Shakti Security Agency at IDPL some years back. He was invited as the chief guest for the immersion procession of the Goddess Durga idol erected in Dilsukhnagar area of Bowenpally. Sanjay Kumar was given the honour as he donated a good amount of money for the celebrations. Sanjay Kumar reached the area around 10 a.m and within minutes gulped down nearly eight pegs of country-made liquor, Gudamba. Sanjay Kumar brought his .32 revolver, a long barrel one, along with him. Sanjay Kumar soon join the hundreds of processionists dancing to the tunes of the band wallahs. Before any one even think of what Sanjay Kumar was upto, he took out his revolver and fired three rounds into the air sending panic among the gathering. Shocked by the sudden development, locals sensed trouble from the drunk Bihari and immediately alerted the police who rushed to the spot and nabbed Sanjay Kumar and recovered the weapon. Begumpet division Assistant Commissioner of Police B Karunakar Reddy told Express that Sanjay Kumar purchased the .32 revolver from Indian Ordinance Factory and got the weapon registered in Bihar. After he shifted to the city, he got the weapon re-registered with the Cyberabad police. ``He is carrying the weapon legally but he can not fire from it without any reason,'' a police officer said. Bowenpally police registered cases against the accused under Arms Act and also recovered .32 revolver and seven rounds of live ammunition from him. The city police immediately asked their Cyberabad counterparts to cancel the gun licence of Sanjay Kumar. Meanwhile, the Task Force sleuths said they are keeping a watch on illegal sale of weapons transported from UP and Bihar. ``We are taking steps to prevent illegal weapon sales in the city. We take stern action caught transporting weapons under Indian Arms Act under section 25 (1). In the latest incident, Sanjay Kumar opened fire in air violating the licencing conditions and it comes under Indian Arms Act,'' said Task Force Deputy Commissioner of Police Ch Ramchander. 

Box: Anmol  .32 Revolver

The .32 revolver is also known as Anmol 32 (7.65 mm) revolver (Long barrel), which is easy to handle for personal safety. The .32 revolver is also capable of firing six rounds, loaded in revolving chamber in succession. The revolver, which have weight (without ammunition) 0.810 kg is accuracy aimed at high standard effective range of 25 meter.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

UP Gang in Shoot-out with Madhapur Police

The robbers hijacked a car hired by K'taka MLA's son, which was parked near Hitech City 

A notorious robber gang from Uttar Pradesh, which is having links with local offenders, is suspected to be behind the shoot-out with the police at Madhapur on Thursday night. Though no policeman was injured in the attack, one robber was injured in retaliatory fire by the police and is being treated while two others managed to flee. The gang is suspected to have planned yet another robbery when one of the member was nabbed. A sticker of a dog pasted on the vehicle made the police identify the stolen vehicle used by the offenders and led to the nabbing of one of the accused. Police said the gang fired at least four rounds from country-made weapons on the police who encircled them. The shoot-out came close on the heels of Dr Naresh Reddy gunning down a thief who broke into his house at Jubilee Hills a few days ago. Around 9 pm on Thursday, a police team headed by a sub-inspector of the Madhapur police, said to be Shiva, came across the gang of robbers.  ``The gang arrived at Balaji Wines shop at the Kondapur junction in a stolen Tata Indigo car and started threatening a person for money. On a tip-off, we rushed to the spot. As we tried to arrest them, they fired on us from country-made pistols,'' Madhapur police inspector K Srinath Reddy said. ``The gang snatches four-wheelers at gun-point for use to commit robberies in Madhapur and other areas in Cyberabad limits,'' an investigating officer said. The gang stole the Tata Indigo from its driver, T Yadagiri, at Shilparamama on Wednesday. The car, belonging to Sekhar, was hired by the son of an MLA from Karnataka from Kohir in Medak district. The MLA's son went to  Hitec City to visit a software company. As he went inside, Yadagiri parked the car on the roadside and was resting when two armed assailants entered the car forcibly and hijacked the car along with Yadagiri. They asked him to get off at Dundigal. With a series of car thefts, senior officials of Cyberabad police asked the Madhapur zone police to form teams to track down the gangs. Extensive searches were conducted at railway stations and parking lots, and check points have been set up. The offenders in this case changed the car registration number from AP 23G 9006 to AP 28AV 0239 and erased some graphic paintings on the vehicle's body. When the police managed to intercept the car and asked its occupants to surrender, they were fired upon. The gang attacked two constables forcing the SI to open fire. While S Ravi was injured, his two accomplices managed to escape. Police fired two rounds, one into the air and the other on the offenders, it is learnt. ``Ravi is still undergoing treatment at a private hospital and he is yet to recover. We will interrogate him to know about the previous offences committed by the gang. We suspect the gang to be from Uttar Pradesh and involved in robberies at banks and ATMs, theft of four-wheelers in Madhapaur limits,'' Srinath Reddy said.

Box 1: 9mm country-made pistol

The 9mm service pistol is a semi-automatic, magazine-fed, recoil-operated, double-action weapon, chambered for the 9mm cartridge. One of its special features is it prevents accidental  discharge by not allowing the hammer to strike the firing pin. 

Box 2: Illegal weapons

July 2, 2010: Mirchowk police seized a country-made ‘tapancha', 10 live rounds and an empty cartridge from an ice cream vendor, Mohammed Nayeem from Uttar Pradesh near Etebar Chowk. Nayeem admitted that he procured the firearm through his acquaintances in UP.

December 14, 2010:  Police arrested 31-year-old electrician Mohammed Mazahar while he was trying to dispose of a country-made revolver and five live rounds at Kachiguda. A resident of Edi Bazar in Bhavani Nagar, Mazahar confessed that he frequently visits his father-in-law's village in Agra where he came across people selling arms and live rounds at cheap rates. 

November 4, 2010: Police apprehended Yaseen, Arshadullah, Lateef Khan and Imran Khan who were in illegal possession of country-made weapons of 8 mm caliber.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Dr. Reddy is a professional shooter

As a youngster, Dr Naresh Reddy participated in various shooting competitions and went on to become a professional shooter. But he would never had imagined that his expertise in handling weapons would one day lead him to shoot dead a thief ! Naresh Reddy, a dentist, today shot dead one of the two thieves who broke into his house and tried to attack him. He opened fire with his 12 Bore Pump Action Gun, a weapon specially designed for use as a security weapon. A 45-year-old Dr. Naresh Reddy, dentist by profession, is an expert in gun shooting and he participated in various shooting competitions held in the city and other parts in the country. ``He is a professional shooter and he participated in various shooting competitions held in various places in the country. He also leant shooting in gun, rifle and pistol categories and it is his hobby since his college days. Dr. Reddy's in time action and his courageous act helps him in saving his property and his life as well from the notorious thieves,'' said Dharmesh Reddy, realtor and a relative of of Dr. Naresh Reddy. Even as Dr. Reddy has different categories rifles, pistol and guns, he preferred to open fire with his 12 Bore Pump Action Gun when it has been specially developed for use as a security weapon. Due to rapid reloading by pump action and spread of shots, it is an ideal weapon for counter ambush tactics. It is reported Dr. Reddy opened three rounds of fire as the gun's Magazine capacity is four rounds. While first round Reddy opened fire in air giving an indication of imminent harm with the thieves and second and third rounds took place when Reddy was chasing the thieves when they tried to flee away from his residence. Dharmesh Reddy said that Dr. Reddy stays alone in the duplex house after his wife died a few years ago while watchman Lakshman's family stays in the ground floor. ``Dr. Reddy is well versed in shooting and he is daring guy since his college days. Reddy initially opened fire in air to in creating fear among the thieves but when the duo tried to attack on Reddy with stones, in an retaliation Reddy opened fire again,'' he added. The 12 Bored gun is a SBBL weapon and superior to 12 Bore DBBL. Generally, it uses for banks security, anti insurgent applications, industrial security, personal security and sporting arm. It is provided with a tubular magazine, which holds 4 numbers of 12 Bore Cartridges and is placed parallel to and below the barrel. Extraction, loading and cocking of the cartridges take place in a single 'pump action' by operating handle, sliding along the magazine. 

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com