During the period 1980 to 1986 thieves struck at will and created scare among the residents in Hyderabad. Our house was the last one in Indiranagar, Ramanthapur with two roads on both sides. To the South, there was a water tank, and the house was in the foreshore area. In those days’ thefts were common in our neighbourhood too.
Once a gang of thieves robbed a goldsmith’s family living behind the Satyanarayana Swamy temple. They have targeted the house mainly as the thieves conducted reconnaissance and learnt that the family was involved in making gold ornaments. Before striking the goldsmith’s house, they locked the doors of the houses in the lane by latching them from outside. Then they broke the door of the goldsmith’s family with heavy granite stones. At the time of the incident, about 10 family members lived in the house.
The thieves have beaten everyone in the family and took away all the gold, including the jewellery they were wearing. On the way, they also tried to burgle another house. This house had steps to climb from inside to reach the rooftop. The owner of the house Mr Swamy managed to rush to the terrace and shout for help. The people in the neighbourhood heard and came to his rescue. By the time the people gathered near his house, the thieves ran away.
Next day, the police came with sniffer dogs and started looking for the clues. The thieves escaped by running on the tank bund. After this incident, everyone in our area became alerted. Such thieves are called ‘Bandi Potlu’ or ‘Bandi Potu Dongalu’ in the local parlance. They not only steal by force but also harm the people.
To prevent any such incidents in the future, my father and his friends living in the neighbourhood wanted to have a vigil in the night. They bought lathis (a five to six feet long sticks) and whistles. They used to conduct ‘gasthi’ (being vigil and walking in the streets). Soon, they engaged Nepali Gurkhas for guarding the area. The Gurkhas are known for their bravery and honesty. They always kept a special Kukri (knife of Gurkhas) with them. The entire night they used to walk in the streets and they tapped the electric poles or stones with their sticks now and then to make their presence felt. Their tapping sound and whistles did not disturb us, but those who were not asleep felt confident with their presence. At the beginning of every month, the Gurkhas visited houses with a notebook and a pen. Each person gave money as per their willingness and entered their names in the book. The good thing about Gurkhas was that they never complained about the money. Many times, people busy with their daily chorus, asked them to come again and they returned some other day.
Later in 2006, a theft happened in our house when there was no one at home for a few days. I went to Delhi to attend a workshop while my parents went to our village. On their return, the parents saw that the main door was broken and found the two almirahs (cupboard) doors were found broken. We lost all the jewellery in the house. We went to the police station and made a complaint in the form of First Information Report (FIR).
After two years, the police informed that the thief was caught and he was in custody. Asked us to come and see the thief, I was curious to see him. My father and I went to the police station near ECIL, where all the thieves were kept for interrogation. I was directed to the accused; he was chained to a window bar. He showed no sign of remorse. I thanked him for not damaging the almirah (steel cupboard) doors which he opened skill-fully. We could easily get the doors and locks repaired without shelling out huge money. I asked him why he chose our house for committing theft. Our house is at the corner with roads on two sides. He said that they conducted reconnaissance for about two days and found that our house was locked.
During the interrogation, the police got some information regarding our stolen gold. The police told us an interesting story regarding the stolen jewellery. After committing the theft, he sold the gold at a place near Bangalore. His gang committed many other thefts and were caught. The Bangalore police could retrieve our gold and gave it to one of the victims from an influential family as a replacement, as they could not retrieve their gold from the same thief. This is one of the methods of rendering justice by the police. After settling all that, the Bangalore police have handed him over to the Andhra Pradesh police. Therefore, now the Hyderabad police have the thief in their custody without the recovered gold. The police pose for a group photo with the thieves standing behind them and the statement below says, ‘The thieves are caught.’ I could not stop laughing whenever I come across such news in the newspapers.
I told the police finally not to bother us further by calling up again as they were unable to retrieve the gold and don’t want to waste our time listening to their stories. Anyway, they are not going to arrest the Bangalore police and retrieve our lost gold.