Property crime cases on the rise as cops look other way

HYDERABAD: There has been a surge in property crime in the city recently. After a lull, thieves have started striking at will and even committed a burglary at a police official’s house in the centre of the city. Many residents say this does not augur well as the summer season, when an annual rise in crime is recorded, has just begun.
In the first week of April, pseudo cops relieved two jewellers off Rs 1.5 lakh worth property at Gulzar House.Robbers took away an iron safe containing Rs 5 lakh from a filling station in Sultan Bazar and on Tuesday night, burglars gained entry inside a woman SI Revati Devi’s house at Saifabad police quarters and escaped with a laptop and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh.
The crime rate, which has already been high due to police officials remaining in bandobust duty, has shot up further as the teams now went into hibernation mood after a reprieve from a gruelling Telangana and Assembly bandobust activity. In the first three months of 2011, there were 510 burglaries, robberies, thefts, dacoities reported in the city and Rs 5.28 crore worth property loss has been reported in the city.
One of the main reasons in sudden increase in the crime rate seems to be non-visibility of police. Due to assembly elections in five states, 50 companies of paramilitary forces stationed in the city have also left. As the visibility of police on the streets has suddenly gone and local police also going into restive mood, thieves have began to strike at will in the heart of the city.
Another reason for the sudden increase in crimes seems to be the severe crackdown against property offenders in neighbouring Cyberabad commissionerate. After a series of robberies, Cyberabad police pulled up their socks and special teams began nabbing one gang after another. The crackdown seemed to have forced the criminals to shift their operations to Hyderabad again and the tired city police force also worked to their advantage.
As the crime graph reveals, property offences are likely to increase further in the coming two months as many people will go to their native places during summer vacations. If police do not wake up in time, Hyderabadis may better cancel their summer trips and guard their properties.