Hyderabad: Police bust gang, three arrested

Hyderabad: The Punjagutta police arrested a three-member gang on Saturday comprising a couple and their 16-year-old granddaughter, involved in pickpocketing and seized around 20 tolas of gold from them.

Police said the gang used to rob passengers in buses and worshippers at temples. The accused were identified as D. Mallesh, his wife D Nirmala and their 16-year-old granddaughter.

DCP A. Venkateswar Rao said D. Mallesh’s wife, daughter Mama-tha, who is now in prison, and his granddaughter were involved in six cases in around seven months. “They robbed people by diverting attention,” he said.

In October 2015, they targeted devotees who visited the Yellamma temple at Balkampet, Saibaba temple at DP colony and patients at the NIMS hospital. Passengers in crowded RTC buses were also their target," the DCP said.

After Mamatha was arrested by Kanchanbagh police in March 2016 they could not arrange money to secure her bail and as a result Mallesh, his wife and granddaughter started committing thefts. The DCP said the couple and their daughter were involved in 21 cases and were imprisoned. The arrested persons were produced before court.

Four pastors arrested for fraud
Four pastors were arrested in Husnabad on Saturday for allegedly extracting '60 lakh from the farmers of Karim-nagar, Warangal and Medak districts by promising to give them electric motors, borewells and other agriculture equipment at cheap rates.

 Police Inspector Dasari Bhumaiah said the accused were Kathula Murali, Boini Jagathpal, Jerip-othula Bharath and Chityala Malaki. The remaining accused are Ambala Prasad, Shanigaram Srinivas, Polimera Babu Thirupathi Rao and Mukkera Prabhakar. All of them are pastors in the churches located in the mandals of Husnabad Assembly constituency.

Mr Bhumaiah said the pastors floated an organisation named Light Way Ministries and launched a scheme called Jeevajalam. Then, they approached farmers assuring them that they will dig borewells at  reasonable prices if they contribute some amount.

Accordingly, they extracted Rs 33 lakh from 95 farmers of Aluvala village in Medak. They collected Rs 35,000 from each farmer. They took up the construction of over 300 borewells in Husnabad. But they did not install motors or other gadgets.