Hyderabad: Panic gripped Kompally on Wednesday night after a masked man walked into a local grocery store, brandished a gun, and made off with Rs 5 lakh in cash and a mobile phone, shocking both shopkeepers and residents in the area.
The armed heist took place at Lakshmi Kiran General Store, located just off the main road leading to the Kompally municipal office. According to police, the shop’s owner, Moturi Saibaba, had just wrapped up his day and was preparing to close the store with the day’s earnings secured in a bag when two men on a scooter pulled up. Wearing helmets and masks, one of them stormed in, threatened Saibaba at gunpoint, and snatched the bag before fleeing.
A sales boy named Parvez tried to intervene but was quickly pushed aside. The accused duo escaped on a waiting bike towards the municipal office side road. Local police have launched a full-scale investigation based on the shopkeeper’s complaint and are scanning CCTV footage from the vicinity.
Adding to the alarm, residents recalled a previous robbery at the same store, where items worth over Rs 10 lakh, including cartons of cigarettes, were quietly stolen using a parked DCM truck late at night. The back-to-back thefts, along with recent cases of stolen mobile phones and two-wheelers from the area, have stirred intense concern.
Kompally, once considered a relatively peaceful suburb, has seen a disturbing spike in criminal activity in recent weeks. Locals are worried not just about the thefts, but also a murder that occurred recently in a nearby bylane during evening hours, amid the bustling market.
The frequency and boldness of such incidents in a densely populated, high-footfall zone have left residents on edge. Many are now questioning the effectiveness of the local police, accusing them of failing to curb the growing lawlessness.