Chaddi gangs giving sleepless nights to Andhra police

Police suspect more than one gang operating in State

Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata collecting details from the residents of a house on ‘Chaddi gang’ movements, on Friday.

The ‘Chaddi gang’ which is suspected to be from Gujarat, that struck at several places in Krishna and Guntur districts, has been giving sleepless nights to the police.

The police suspect that two separate gangs have been operating in the State. The notorious robber gangs struck at posh villas and group houses located on the city outskirts and escaped with valuables.

Modus operandi

“According to the modus operandi of the gangs and the clues available at the crime scene, investigation officers came to a conclusion that ‘Chaddi gangs’ might have committed robbery We contacted the Gujarat police and are trying to nab the thieves,” said Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata.

Chaddi gangs have five to seven members each. The gang members wear shorts (chaddis) and mostly burgle locked houses and are not violent, the investigation officers said.

“The gangs commit series of robberies in a State and escape to another State. The gang members, aged between 25 and 40, normally stay on the roadsides or in small hotels and move in trains,” a police officer said.

“We collected the CCTV footages and fingerprints at the villas when the gang struck at at different places. Fingerprints collected at one place did not match with the prints taken at the other scene of offence, indicating that more than one gang is operating,” said Mr. Kanthi Rana.

The gang members move as general public in colonies, conduct ‘recce’ during day time and identify the locked houses. They strike after midnight.

The robbers carry iron roads to break the locks. They focus on easy escape routes after committing the robbery. Chaddi gangs normally loot only cash and gold ornaments, an investigation officer said.

“Chaddi gangs hail from Dahod district of Gujarat State. I spoke to Dahod Superintendent of Police, who said that two gangs were missing from the State. We suspect that the same gangs are moving in Andhra Pradesh,” Mr. Kanthi Rana, who is monitoring the investigation of the robber cases, told The Hindu .

In Guntur district, suspected ‘Chaddi gang’ struck at the locked flats in Rainbow Villa. Some MLAs and other VIPs were staying in the villa, and robbers looted the houses in the absence of the inmates, the Guntur police said.

“In almost all the cases, the Clues Teams collected finger prints, which indicated that the gang did not use gloves. But, in some places, he robbers covered their faces with masks and wore ‘chaddis’,” a senior police officer said.

Chaddi gangs move in different States, commit robberies and handover the booty to their family members, the police said.