Hyderabad: Rein Bazaar murder puts spotlight on police surveillance gaps

The murder of Yakutpura trader Shaik Junaid has triggered serious questions over police surveillance on rowdy sheeters. Despite past offences and ongoing extortion activity by the suspects, monitoring remained weak, leading to public fear and allegations of policing lapses.

Hyderabad: The murder of Shaik Junaid Bin Mohammed Bharmos, (35), a rice trader and a resident of Yakutpura, has raised questions on the ‘surveillance’ on rowdy-sheeters by local police and the Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force team.

The fact that prime suspects, Omer Bin Hamza and Ali Bin Hamza were known rowdy sheeters of Rein Bazaar and sons of notorious rowdy sheeter Hamza Bin Omar alias Zafar Pahelwan, should have clearly alerted law enforcement to the need for extra monitoring, many here believe.

---

A former senior police official said the police have to maintain a constant watch on the activities of the rowdy sheeters who have family criminal history and political connections. “The local police should have dedicated men to keep watch on rowdy sheeters and criminal gangs. The senior police officials should personally monitor their activities,” said the official.

In fact, the police higher ups during the investigation learnt that the Omer and Ali, along with their associates, had extorted money or attempted to forcefully collect money from people who either sold or purchased properties in the area. The activities were going unhindered despite the police claiming to maintain surveillance on the rowdy sheeters.

“If the police were strict in their approach towards the gang, the murder could have been avoided. Allowing the gang to continue extortion activities and other crimes instilled a fear in the public to such an extent that the victims lost confidence in the police establishment and did not come forward to report harassment,” said S Q Masood, a social worker.

Reliable sources said the gang was collecting information from local real-estate agents or brokers about property sales in certain areas of Yakutpura and extorting money from the buyers and sellers. The gang comprising of 50 individuals was also involved in money lending business and settling disputes in and around Yakutpura.