Hyderabad: Property offences have increased in the IT corridor in the last nine months. Robberies and house burglaries at night have risen by 200 per cent compared to last year while ordinary thefts like laptops, mobile phones and murder for gain offences have been stable. The growth rate in property offences in the IT corridor — under the jurisdictions of Madhapur, Raidurgam, Gachibowli and Chandanagar PSs — were cut down in 2015 as police strengthened patrolling. Patrols would roam around particular locations based on day, time and festival season as per directions issued by the First Response Command Control (FRCC).
Due to the series of festivals from Vinayaka Navaratri to Bathukamma and Durga Navaratri, the patrolling teams and teams under FRCC were limited to bandobust and surveillance. This saw the rate of property offences increasing in the last two months.
While only 14 robbery cases were registered in 2015, the number has risen to 38 in IT corridor for this year up to September 30. Similarly, the number of house burglary during night times has doubled.
Targeting techies and students at hostels, services apartments and flats, laptop thieves are stealing laptops and cell phones without any difficulty. Madhapur police nabbed a gang last week and seized about 20 laptops. Many other cases related to laptop and mobile phone thefts are still under investigation.
Madhapur zone DCP, P. Viswa Prasad told DC that most of the property offences were registered in KPHB and Kukatpally localities. “We’ll increase patrolling based on crime mapping. We’ll strengthen surveillance to curb all property related offences,” he said.
Tips to prevent thefts
- Don’t sleep with doors open
- Don’t put watches, laptops and mobile phones near windows and doors
- Hostels must employ a watchman and should maintain a register of visitors
- CCTV cameras should be installed in hostels and apartments
Laptop thefts
- Last month, two cell phones and a laptop were stolen from Kiran Hostel in Madhapur
- This month, two laptops were stolen from Ganesh Deluxe Boys’ Hostel under the jurisdiction of Raidurgam police station
- Recently, at Ayyappa Society, a laptop was stolen from a hostel
