50,000 dial 100 every day!

It was 4.30 a.m on Monday. A 30-year-old woman, coming in a Super Luxury bus of the APSRTC from Razole to Hyderabad, got a rude shock when a co-passenger began misbehaving with her, despite the fact that there were more than 35 on board. As the bus arrived in Shanthinagar, 40 kms from the city, the woman alerted the bus driver and dialled 100. The lecher did not realise that he was dealing with a police constable! She knew exactly what was to be done. Within minutes, a police team rushed to the spot. The culprit, a post-graduate, working in a private pharma company, belongs to the same place as the woman in West Godavari district. He tendered an apology after which the woman excused him but not before the police took his details. In another incident, a passerby, upon noticing a group of women thrashing a man at Alwin Colony near Kukaatpally, dialled 100 and alerted the staff about the nuisance on the street. Within 25 minutes, the Kukatpally police rescued the man. It later transpired that his wife had caught him red-handed with another woman with the help of some women’s organisations. The police counselled the couple. These are just two of the nearly 50,000 calls that the staff of Dial 100 have been receiving on an average every day ever since the service was launched on the occasion of Ugadi. According to sources, a majority of the calls are made from Hyderabad followed by Ranga Reddy and Krishna districts. Typically, the callers inform about either accidents, burglaries, petty issues or sexual harassment. “We have directed all Station House Officers to respond to alerts from the Dial 100 staff. In the last four days, the police were alerted about accidents and petty issues. After the police reach the spot, they take statements from the victim and issue a receipt as acknowledgment,” B Raja Kumari, SP, Ranga Reddy told Express. When contacted, Inspector General of Police, Law and Order, J Purnachandra Rao, who is looking after Dial 100 functioning, said he was only responsible for internal work.

By Moule Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

How a boy's IPS dream crashed

Pasupuleti Krishna (38), who works as a watchman, wanted to see his son as an IPS officer. But the hope died with his 16-year-old son, Omkar, who left this world on his birth day on Friday when his bike hit an oil tanker. Omkar had been an active NCC cadet since his childhood because he thought exposure to NCC would help him reach his goal of becoming an IPS officer. A day after after Omkar’s death in a road accident, grief-stricken parents and other  members of the family could not control their emotion while narrating how he hard he was working to reach his goal. “All our family members hoped to see Omkar do well academically and reach great heights professionally. Omkar’s father Krishna took special interest in him and encouraged him to secure a good score in Class X whose final examinations will commence on March 22. In the early hours of Friday, we received the bitter news that Omkar met with an accident and we were asked to go to police station to identify the body,’’ said P Ramesh, the boy’s uncle. All the family members and relatives  participated in Omkar’s birthday celebrations at his house on Thursday. On that day, as usual, he went to school and had a gala time with his friends. On Thursday, Omkar celebrated his birthday in his class. After finishing study hours around late in the night, Omkar and his two friends Harikrishna and Baghavan Reddy on their way to Uppal to get a cake to celebrate his birthday again. As the bike on which they were triple riding reached the Uppal bus stop, a Indian Oil tanker hit the bike and Omkar died on the spot. Harikrishna and Baghavan Reddy too died later while undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Despite struggling to make both ends meet, Krishna and his wife Lavanya, who runs a laundry unit at Medipally village, managed to save money for the education of their children Omkar and Neha. Neha is studying engineering. To reach his goal of becoming a police officer Omkar joined the NCC and attended camps in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and other places. He was very a brilliant student,’’ recalled M Suresh, a relative.

By Moule Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

City jewellery shops become soft target for hardcore thieves

The thefts at jewellery shops in the city continued on Sunday, with a fourth incident being reported within a month.CCTV footage could not help identify the culprits as it lacked clarity. In the latest incident, unidentified persons gained entry into Lakshmi jewellery and pawn brokers, at Abdulpurmet under Hayatnagar police limits. They decamped with 2 kg of silver ornaments worth Rs 1 lakh. Around midnight, three persons entered the shop by making a hole in the wall. They took away 2 kg of silver ornaments,” said Hayatnagar inspector G Srinivas Kumar. Shop owner Ganapathi Choudhary lodged a complaint, he said. Police inspected the scene along with clues team and collected evidence. “The culprits also tried to break open the lockers where some gold ornaments were kept. They were inside the shop till 4. 05 am. CCTV footage taken from the shop did not have clarity due to darkness,” the inspector said. Police suspect that interstate gangs are involved in jewellery thefts in the city. Guidelines have been issued to jewellery shop owners for taking measures to prevent such offences. Police see the hand of gangs from Bihar and Gujarat, with expertise in opening locked shutters and making holes in walls. After the theft, the gangs move the stolen jewellery to places like Mumbai and sell it away at low prices. In the last few weeks, a woman and her two associates, posing as customers, stole gold ornaments studded with diamonds from MOR jewellery shop at Punjagutta. Elsewhere, culprits made entry by making holes to the walls of two jewellery shops. In another case, shutters were broke open and silver ornaments stolen from a shop under Sanathnagar police limits. “Many shop owners do not take steps to prevent such offences. Though jewellery shops have installed CCTVs, they do not function properly. Every shop should have security guards both day and night and install alarm systems. The alarm device installed at a jewellery shop at Kukatpally averted a major theft recently,” said LKV Ranga Rao, deputy commissioner of police, CCS. However, a majority of jewellery shops introduced the bar code identification system, in which each item has a radio frequency tag, which will check theft by fake customers. Ashok Kumar Gupta, secretary, Twin Cities Jewellery Shops Association, told Express that most of the jewellery shop owners are complying with the rules and regulations set by police.
About 70 percent of the shops have CCTV, he said. “Thefts at jewellery shops in the city take place every year during summer. The offenders come from elsewhere,” he added.

By Moule Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

Wounded SI was a livewire at Academy

Sub-inspector Nomula Venkatesh who was shot and wounded seriously by a fleeing robber on Friday is remembered by his peers at the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy (APPA) as quite a livewire. The 33-year-old officer was nicknamed ‘Agni’ for his fiery approach to enforcing the law. Venkatesh was hospitalised after being shot while chasing a gang of five that tried to hold up a bank in Medak district on Friday. Doctors at Krishna Institute of Medical Science (KIMS) operated on him and removed a 9 mm bullet lodged in his chest. Venkatesh was in the intensive care unit (ICU), his condition put at ‘stable’. To see him lying helpless was an ordeal for his family, especially 56-year-old mother Ilamma. “Doctors told me he will recover. I’m praying to god,’’ said Illamma with tear-filled eyes. The young officer began his career as sub-inspector posted to the Jinnaram police station in Medak district in 2009. While there, he earned a reputation of being a tough officer. He worked later posted to the Ramayampet police station and then to Kohir in the same district, where the botched hold up and shooting took place. Freshly after being posted to Kohir, Venkatesh started operations against matka gambling in the local villages. “He used to visit villages to counsel people to fight addiction to gambling,’’ said his close friend Giri, who has been selected as an assistant commercial taxes officer (ACTO).  Venkatesh was born in Mandapalli village in Alair mandal in Medak district. His parents, Ilamma and Ilaiah, are farmers. Venkatesh did his post-graduation at Nizam College and completed his B.Ed from a college in Bhongir. He was recruited to the police in 2009.He married Madhuri in 2011 and they have a six-month-old baby girl Vaishnavi.

By Moule Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com