Hyderabad: Monda Market police nabs two criminal gangs, Rs 43.21 lakh cash recovered

Monda Market police busted two criminal gangs—one that staged a fake gold deal and another that robbed the robbers pretending to be recovery agents. Eighteen people were arrested, and Rs 43 lakh in cash, gold, and phones were recovered

Hyderabad: In a dramatic breakthrough, a criminal gang which orchestrated a fake gold deal and another criminal gang which intercepted and robbed it, posing as vehicle recovery agents, were arrested by the Monda Market police.

Apart from arresting 18 persons from the two gangs, the police recovered Rs 43.21 lakh cash, nearly 59 grams of gold, vehicles, and 23 mobile phones.

The arrests followed a complaint by Hariram, a Bowenpally resident, who was duped by the first gang under the pretext of purchasing 1 kg of gold at a 5 per cent discount. The prime suspect, Radheshyam, introduced Hariram to a few individuals, including Rambabu, and later confirmed the presence of cash at Hariram’s office to his associates.

“Soon after, four men posing as officials from the Rachakonda SOT, including one displaying a fake ID as Keshavulu, barged into the premises. They assaulted Hariram and fled with the cash and mobile phones of all the present, using a car and two bikes to escape,” said Rashmi Perumal, DCP, North Zone.

Daring Double Heist

However, in a bizarre twist, the gang’s own loot was snatched by a separate group, a self-proclaimed ‘vehicle recovery team’, who intercepted one of the gang members, Bhanu, near Trimulgherry, suspecting his bike was an EMI default vehicle. They checked the bag he was carrying and robbed the cash, threatening him with false police action.

This led to internal rifts among the gang members, which eventually helped the police piece together the case.

Police said Chandra Shekar Verma and Nagaraju Kumar Verma, suspects and brothers from Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, masterminded the crime. They devised a plan to impersonate gold traders offering fake discounts to lure cash-rich victims. After confirming the location and availability of cash, a fake police raid was staged.

A total of 28 members were involved, with 18 arrested and 10 still at large. Among the arrested was Keshavulu, a constable with the Telangana State Special Police, who played a central role in posing as a cop during the heist.

The case was cracked through an investigation involving the scrutiny of footage from over 100 CCTV and eyewitness accounts.