61 without ID held, 39 bikes seized Massive searches in hostels

Police conducted a cordon and search operation on Wednesday midnight in SR Nagar to check increasing thefts. Around 300 personnel under west zone DCP A. Venkateswara Rao conducted the operation in Yellareddyguda and BK Guda. The search focussed on private hostels and independent houses where men from other states are staying.

West zone DCP A. Venkateswar Rao said that thefts had increased recently at Yellareddyguda, BK Nagar and Jayaprakash Nagar. The number of private hostels also have increased rapidly in SR Nagar. While around 600 hostels in SR Nagar have registered with the police, cops say the number of hostels could be around 1,000.

In addition to hostels, the owners of independent houses have started renting their top floors to people from other states without checking identities. “We have already issued notices to all hostels to maintain a record of inmates and also to install CCTVs on their premises, but there is no response from them. Of late hostels have become hideouts for anti social elements,” Mr Venkateswar Rao said, citing the example of Sukumar Reddy who robbed a techie at gunpoint an year ago and was caught hiding in a hostel.

On Wednesday, police raided 17 hostels and 412 houses in the three areas. During the searches 61 youths without ID proofs were nabbed and 39 bikes without documents were also seized.

“Of them, four were from Nepal, seven from West Bengal, five from Karnataka, four from Maharashtra, two from Bihar and one from UP. We have collected their fingerprints for analysis,” Mr Rao added.

The DCP said that hostels should be checked before they are given permissions for electricity and water connections.