An eighteen year old teen was with her fiance was at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Pahari Sharif — a hilly area in a old city of Hyderabad — when a group of seven broke in after beating up the security guard. Her fiance, the son of a businessman, was also beaten up. The men then pulled out a 6ft-long snake to ensure that the girl didn’t fight back. Four of the men then turns to rape her and videotaped the indecent act before the gang escaped with Rs 60,000 in cash and valuables. Police said the snake gang of Pahari Sharif had been doing this since 2011, targeting women or couples who strayed into the interiors of hillocks for a moment of privacy or stayed the night in nearby guesthouses. While the serpent was their weapon of terror, the video clippings were their instruments of blackmail to ensure that the victims stay away from the police.
The gang had a free run right under the nose of the police and the new details have emerged of the culprits’ audacity and strong-arm tactics — it appears that they used snakes to intimidate people and settle land disputes at ‘local darbars’ and was allegedly involved in extortion cases, targeting local businesses. The gang was tech savvy enough to use WhatsApp to exchange information and coordinate their criminal activities. The police have also seised video clippings of the serial rapes that the “snake gang” filmed, so confident the accused were of getting away. Thirty-six times they did, before the girl valiantly de-fanged the gang led by Faisal Dayyani, the snake catcher.
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Faisal Dayyani and Hamid Dayyani both brothers, the kingpin, is said to have the backing of some political leaders and BJP has demanded CBI probe into the alleged intimidation and sexual attacks on women by the notorious “Snake gang. Protesting against their involvement in the sexual assaults on women, the BJP Mahila wing members staged a dharna near demanding stern action against the criminals. BJP city president B Venkat Reddy alleged that “Snake Gang” members who were involved in nefarious atrocities against women, have support of the MIM party.
The team led by Commisioner himself numbering over 400 policemen took part in the search operation in Shaheen Nagar area in Hyberabad on the outskirts of the city. Police have received five complaints of criminal intimidation and criminal Assault against the gang. The police commissioner said two horses used by the gang were also seized during the search operation. The gang members used eight horses to roam around in the area. The search operation also led to the arrest of 19 other people and seizure of three vans, two cars and 30 two-wheelers, which were used without registration documents.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi and his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi, who is a Lok Sabha member, have ruled Hyderabad with an iron fist, and have made a reputation for controversy. Their party, is small, but large in its influence though the Owaisi brothers of the old city are feared and rarely challenged. The writ of the MIM, a hard line political party, which the brothers inherited run across the city and sometimes goes beyond it. The Owaisi family run MIM is just made up of 1 MP and 7 MLAs. However, their iron grip over the Muslim community of Andhra Pradesh is disproportionate to their real strength, often forcing the government to turn a blind eye to their strong arm tactics.
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Needless to say the police inaction need to be condemned and it’s sickening to even admit how the gang had terrorised the locals into submission with active abetment of lower level police functionaries and its simply not possible unless they enjoyed political patronage.
—N Nagaraj Rao from Hyderabad
