Date:12/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101258360100.htm

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Man robbed of Rs. 5 lakh at Chaitanyapuri

Staff Reporter

Attention diversion gang’s victim this time is security agency managing partner

HYDERABAD: They struck again. Five days after relieving two persons of Rs. 7.14 lakh, gangs stealing cash by diverting attention of people took away Rs. 5 lakh from a person on Saturday at Chaitanyapuri in a similar fashion.

Incidentally, the 40-year-old victim in the fresh incident is managing partner of a security service agency.

Dayanand withdrew the amount from Syndicate Bank’s branch at Chaitanyapuri around noon and walked across to his bike parked outside.

Just when he was about to kickstart the vehicle, a stranger “alerted” him saying he had lost money, pointing towards some ten rupee notes on the ground.

“Mr. Dayanand kept the cash bag on the bike and started collecting the notes while the stranger grabbed the bag and ran away,” the Saroornagar police station Inspector L.A. Bhaskar said. It was only when a passerby saw the thief fleeing with the bag and alerted Mr. Dayanand did he realise that he was taken for a ride.

By then, the stranger joined his associates waiting nearby and disappeared.

Mr. Dayanand had withdrawn the amount to disburse salaries to his employees.

Police appealed to people, especially those depositing or withdrawing money from banks, to be cautious about attention diversion gangs because most of the thefts were committed in the vicinity of banks.

Same style

The operating style of the gangs is almost same although they change the bait now and then. To distract their ‘prey’, they throw currency notes on the ground, sprinkle ‘dirt’ (which mostly could be some biscuit paste) on them, mislead them saying the vehicle had a flat tyre or that there was an oil leakage from the engine.

Investigators suspect the same gang to be behind all the three thefts committed recently.

“Unlike other offenders, who flee the city after committing the crime, this gang seems to be moving in the city targeting more people, Mr. Bhaskar said. People need to be wary of strangers while carrying big amount or jewellery, he cautioned.