Hyderabad: RWAs issue safety advisory after Nepali gang attacks

Following recent crime incidents involving domestic workers in Hyderabad, more than 5,000 RWAs have issued security advisories to residents. Communities have been urged to conduct safety audits, verify domestic workers’ credentials, maintain CCTV surveillance, and coordinate closely with local police.

Hyderabad: Following a series of incidents of hired domestic help hailing from Nepal, targeting their employers, more than 5,000 Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in the city have issued alerts for the residents.

In the last fortnight itself, Hyderabad has been witness to two major crime incidents by these hired domestic help. In one instance, the wife of a retired IPS officer was murdered in Jubilee Hills, and a few days later, the second incident had a doctor couple immobilised and robbed at a gated community in Kowkoor.

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Following these incidents and police advisories suggesting organised gangs from Nepal were joining households as domestic help only to target the families later, the RWAs have alerted their members.

The United Federation of RWAs has come up with alerts in the form of an advisory and then within their WhatsApp groups. According to the advisory, house owners in apartments, gated communities and individual properties were advised to call the local police and seek a safety audit.

This safety audit aims to cover all aspects of safety, including the premises, access and entry points, the height of compound walls, availability of pet dogs, and safety checks of bolted-down areas. The audit also includes checks of master bedrooms, gold and jewellry boxes, and common hiding places such as keys kept under pillows or beds and mattresses, as burglars were known to target these areas first for robbery, one of the UFERWAS members told ‘Telangana Today’.

Residents were advised to verify the credentials of people before employing them as domestic workers or allowing them to take care of children, including checking criminal antecedents, whether they were local or from other states, and verifying the agency concerned. “The advisory suggested residents inform the local police while employing domestic help,” said a UFERWAS member.

Residents were asked to check the functioning of CCTVs installed around the premises of their houses and preserve the footage for police investigation purposes, if needed. House owners were also asked to verify the visitors’ log.

The security personnel in gated communities and apartment complexes were asked to maintain the visitor’s book and note down details of visitors, including name, designation, contact number, with accurate in and out timings, said RWA member.

The RWA member said the communities should display the recommendations in prominent areas and circulate them to every house owner. “If these are followed strictly, we can prevent Nepali gang-type incidents,” a member said.

Meanwhile, soon after incidents of Nepali gang strikes were reported, the Tellapur RWA invited local police to inspect their gated communities and check staff records, CCTV and entry systems.