Chain snatcher attacks cop, killed in police firing

A notorious criminal wanted in several cases of chain snatching in different parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was shot dead by police after he attacked a policeman with a sharp weapon here, police said today.
According to Cyberabad Police Commissioner C V Anand, the incident occurred near Kothvalguda on outer ring road (ORR) service road of the city late last night when special police teams were deployed to nab the criminal K Siva alias Samba.
Two days back, few incidents of snatching were reported in Narsingi and Shamshabad areas, following which as many as 20 teams were deployed to hunt him down and police tracked Siva's location through his cell phone's call data records, Anand said.

"On Thursday, during a police checking, Siva who was on a two-wheeler, somehow managed to escape. Last night, when he switched on his cell phone, his location was immediately tracked and an an alert was sounded between Madhapur and Shamshabad areas to nab him," he said.
During checking at Kothvalguda, police intercepted his bike and sub-inspector Venkateshwarlu started frisking Siva, even as he suddenly took out a sharp knife and attacked the SI, who in turn fired at him in self-defence and he (Siva) died on the spot, the Cybderabad Police chief said.
Siva, aged around 30, a native of Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh started stealing laptops in 2008. He was involved in over 300 snatching incidents in Tirupati, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Cybderabad, Anand said.

During 2013, at least 1,000 snatching cases were reported under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits and around 500 such incidents were reported till date during this year.

"Though several offenders have been apprehended earlier, but it was not clear who the key accused was and now police managed to track him (Siva) down," he added.
In a similar attack on policemen earlier this month, a constable Eshwar Rao was killed and SI Venkat Reddy sustained serious injuries after members of a fake currency circulation gang allegedly attacked them with swords and knives.
One of the gang members, Mustafa, died when police fired in retaliation.