Hyderabad: Constable suspended for maintaining cell phone thieves gang

Police constable who was arrested on charges of maintaining a gang of cell phone thieves and subsequently suspended

Hyderabad: A police constable who was arrested on charges of maintaining a gang of cell phone thieves and subsequently suspended, was on Tuesday dismissed from the service by Hyderabad Police Commissioner, CV Anand.

Mekala Eshwar who was with the Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force (west) team, was suspended when he was arrested by Nalgonda police last month for allegedly maintaining a gang of cell phone thieves.

The Nalgonda II Town police who arrested Eshwar found he allegedly was maintaining and nurturing a gang of nine pocket pickers and cell phone thieves, three of whom were juveniles. The gang was involved in several property offences in Hyderabad and other districts.

After the arrest of the constable in the case, the Hyderabad Police Commissioner also ordered an enquiry into the activities of the constable and the role of others who helped him.

The enquiry reportedly found that two Inspectors who had worked in SR Nagar police station and an Inspector who worked with the Task Force (west zone), helped Eshwar.

Following this, the Police Commissioner had ordered departmental action against three inspectors – Y Ajay Kumar (SHO Shahinayatgunj), T Srinath Reddy (Inspector Task Force North) and Sai Venkat Kishore (Inspector Cyberabad) for their alleged complicity with the constable in illegal and unlawful activities.

In last one year in Hyderabad, 59 policemen have been awarded punishments i.e. dismissed /removed /terminated /compulsory retirement for various types of delinquencies, Anand said.