ANANTAPUR/GUNTUR: For six months, the people of Chikballapur district in Karnataka had been driven to despair by the frequent robberies committed by a gang from Andhra Pradesh. On Tuesday, they finally got their hands on the brigands after a botched robbery. The villagers gave vent to their fury, bludgeoning four of them to death in Muddalapalli village, and then torching a car carrying six others of the gang in a neighbouring habitation. The toll in the double lynching rose to 10 with one of the two men injured in the Kuddalapali lynching, Lakshman, succumbing to injuries in a Chikballapur hospital on Wednesday.The post-mortem examination of the lynched robbers was done on Wednesday and their bodies were due to be despatched to Kadiri, the native place of some of the 11-member gang. The gang’s luck ran out when Lakshman led a foray into Karnataka on Tuesday. They split up into two groups riding SUVs and entered two villages. At Muddalapalli, five of them robbed a woman of her jewellery but villagers, alert to their presence, caught them and beat them up. Three of them died on the spot while Lakshman died on Wednesday.Five km away from Muddalapalli, the other six members of the gang also roused the suspicions of the villagers of Yerragottahalli. Their car was besieged in a trice and torched while they cowered inside.The Anantapur district police had a criminal record of Lakshman, a native of Mohammadabad in Amdaguru mandal. He was wanted in several theft and cheating cases. He set up a gang with his brother Ramesh, Narasimha Reddy and Gangadhar Reddy (of Odicheruvu mandal), Gangadri (Bachhalapalle mandal), Bhaskar (Hindupur mandal), Peddireddy (Kadiri), Ramanji, Chinna, Hari and Hanumanthu (all three from Guntur district), carrying out chain snatchings, burglaries and robberies in Anantapur district and Karnataka.According to police, Lakshman and his gang used to cheat people by convincing them that they had unearthed a hidden treasure. They also used to sell fake gold to people. Sometimes, they would entire people into parting with their money for a large quantity of (fake) gold. Then, posing as policemen, some gang members would arrive at the spot and carry away the loot.
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