They are all in the 20-28 age group, qualified, and intelligent. But, they have become slaves to vices. To fund these habits, they have committed crimes. These were the few common traits of the accused either in the sensational daylight robbery at knife-point in Patamata by a four-member gang from Guntur (busted on August 22), or the person who allegedly committed a double murder in Satyanarayanapuram on October 14, or the person involved in the attempt to murder and robbery case in Krishnalanka a couple of months ago.
Addiction to drugs, wine, and gambling is playing havoc with the lives of such people. They need money to fund their vices and it has to come fast without much effort. “This is luring many youngsters to the path of crime. Most of them confess that they prefer the shortcut either to settle down or to fund their vices,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police M. Ravi Prakash.
Impact of TV serials
Adding fuel to fire are television serials, points out Assistant Commissioner (Central Zone) D.V. Nageswara Rao.
“Most of them tend to pick up the modus operandi from crime serials, as they give a detailed explanation of the crimes committed. In the case of robbery at Patamata, the accused not only wore cotton gloves to wipe out their fingerprints, but also took away the glasses in which they drank water. We have taken into possession various articles such as cotton gloves, cellophane tapes, and ski masks used by them to avoid detection,” Mr. Nageswara Rao says.
Talking about the crime pattern and profile of the accused, Mr. Ravi Prakash says people should be more careful. “In most of the cases that we came across, the accused do a recce. It is advisable to notify the nearest police station or police beat if a family is going out of station,” he says.
He wants apartment complex owners to recruit at least two watchmen for a 24-hour duty and set up other security gadgets.
Mr. Ravi Prakash told The Hindu that the Commissionerate had allocated a team of 25 constables headed by an inspector for crime duty across the 10 police stations in the city.
