Two Maharashtra women held, remanded

Kurnool: The Fourth Town Police on Friday arrested two women from Maharashtra in connection with a theft that occurred at the APSRTC bus station in Kurnool, involving the loss of gold ornaments worth several lakhs.

The incident took place on November 30, when Sharada, a resident of Koilakuntla, was waiting to board a bus after arriving from Hyderabad along with her husband.

Amid the crowd of passengers, the accused allegedly posed as travellers and discreetly stole a wallet containing nine tolas of gold ornaments from the victim’s bag before fleeing the scene.

Following the complaint, police registered a case and launched an investigation using CCTV footage obtained from the bus station premises. Police teams were sent to various locations, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, to track the suspects.

However, despite extensive efforts, the accused could not be traced initially, and the case remained under active investigation. In view of the increased passenger movement during the Sankranti festival season, the Fourth Town Police intensified surveillance at the APSRTC bus stand by deploying personnel in plain clothes.

During this operation, two women were found moving suspiciously within the bus station limits.

With the help of women police personnel, they were detained and brought to the police station for questioning. They were identified as Rozi Sultana (45), daughter of Sheikh Mahboob, and Sheikh Rafiqa (65), daughter of Muthus, both natives of Akola district in Maharashtra.

Speaking to the media persons on Friday, The Inspector of police, Bandar Vallamshetty VikramaSimha said during interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed to being involved in bag-lifting and similar thefts in different places. Police also found that similar cases had earlier been registered against them in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.