The accused allegedly snatched a 37-gram gold mangalsutra from a shop worker before being chased down and caught by alert locals in Uppal.

Hyderabad: A 21-year-old man who allegedly entered a cosmetic shop posing as a customer and snatched a woman’s gold mangalsutra was caught by alert locals and handed over to the police in Uppal on Thursday, June 18.

The incident occurred at a cosmetic shop in Hanuman Sai Nagar under the Uppal police station limits.

The victim, Kasula Sandhya (35), a resident of Venkata Reddy Nagar in Ramanthapur, works at the cosmetic shop. According to police, at around 12.50 pm on Thursday, a young man entered the shop pretending to be a customer and enquired about the price of a face wash.

When Sandhya turned around to show him the product, the accused allegedly snatched her gold mangalsutra, weighing around 37 grams, from her neck and fled the shop.

Shocked by the incident, Sandhya immediately raised an alarm and chased the accused. A customer who was present at the shop also joined the pursuit.

The accused was eventually caught by locals in the Uppal Mande Market area and brought back to the shop. He was later handed over to the Uppal police.

During questioning, the accused was identified as Banothu Srinivas (21), a native of Sajjanayak Thanda in Yacharam village of Sadashivanagar mandal, Kamareddy district. Police said he is currently staying in a hostel in S.R. Nagar and working in a private job in Hyderabad.

CCTV captures incident

The entire incident was captured on the shop’s CCTV cameras. Police recovered the stolen mangalsutra from the accused.

A case has been registered, and an investigation is underway. The accused was produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.Police appreciated the prompt response of local residents, stating that their alertness helped in the immediate apprehension of the accused and recovery of the stolen property.