HYDERABAD: Gullapally Ramakrishna, a techie turned chainsnatcher who was arrested by Chikkadpally police on Saturday, took many precautions to dodge CCTV cameras and the police. Eventually, it was a small detail, his shoe, which was captured in a CCTV camera, that led to his downfall.
On January 10, Ramakrishna attacked an elderly woman near her home while she was returning home with her granddaughter. Initially, CCTV cameras showed a man wearing a maroon-coloured jacket and a helmet riding a Honda Activa without a number plate in the area. When the police checked the cameras en route, they noticed the same scooter entering a nearby lane.
After some time, they found an Activa of the same colour coming out of the same lane, but now the rider was wearing different clothes, was without a helmet, and the vehicle, unlike earlier, had a number plate and rearview mirrors on both sides.
This got the police suspicious, and they did a deeper analysis of the footage. They found that the shoe worn by the rider in both footages was the same, and concluded that this rider was the chain snatcher.
On questioning, Ramakrishna admitted to the offence and the police recovered the stolen gold chain from him.
Inquiries revealed that Ramakrishna, after losing his job at a reputed MNC in Bengaluru in 2013, entered into a hostel business, but ran into losses. Since then, he was jobless and lived on the earnings of his wife, who ran a boutique. His financial situation had become more dire recently as he was quarrelling with his wife, which made him commit the crime.
Desperate measures
Inquiries revealed that Ramakrishna, after losing his job at a reputed MNC in Bengaluru in 2013, entered into a hostel business, but ran into losses.