Hyderabad, June 11: In a film-style action sequence played out in the narrow bylanes of Ambernagar, two thieves were caught after a hot chase in the wee hours of Thursday and thrashed so severely that one of them died in hospital. The other is said to be critical.
For two hours, high action prevailed in the Ambernagar and adjoining localities. About 200 locals chased the thieves hurling stones at them. Finally, the duo were caught, overpowered, thrashed and handed over to the police.
According to police, Tara Singh (40) and Bacchan Singh (30), residents of Vambay Nagar in Ramachandrapuram of Medak district entered the Ambernagar locality around 2 a.m. targeting locked houses. They took advantage of residents sleeping on their terraces due to heat.
They broke open the locks of a house belonging to one Nagalakshmi and stole Rs 10,000. “From another house, they took away a mobile phone,” Gopalpuram assistant commissioner of police Suhas Chaturvedi said.
As the duo were searching for valuables in the house Narsing Das, when the entire family was asleep on the terrace, Das woke up to the sounds and came down. They threatened him with a knife and demanded his gold chain. With Das resisting their attempts a scuffle took place and the noise woke up the neighbours,” the ACP said.
Seeing the neighbours coming out in good numbers, the thieves took to their heels. “They ran from one bylane to another in Ambernagar and its neighbouring localities of E Narayana Nagar, Ashok Nagar and New Ashok Nagar trying to escape from the chasers for almost an hour,” police official said.
At one point, the thieves even retaliated by throwing stones at the people but were finally caught at New Ashok Nagar. The 200-odd locals then started to thrash them. Police were informed around 3.30 a.m. after the duo fell unconcious.
“Tara Singh died while undergoing treatment at the Gandhi hospital while Bacchan Singh is undergoing treatment,” Chaturvedi said.
Police are verifying the criminal history of the accused.
“A week back, the duo threatened a 70-year-old man, Mohd Haneef, of the same locality and tried to rob him,” the ACP said.
Cases of theft have been registered against the duo.
However, police is yet to register a case against the locals for the death of Tara Singh.
–Agencies