HYDERABAD: Three youngsters, two of them pursuing engineering and another teaching at a private college, were recently arrested for snatching offences on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Cops said despite a good academic background, their addiction to online gaming and pressure to clear gaming debts eventually landed them behind bars.
DCP (Maheshwaram) D Sunitha Reddy said all three accused had borrowed huge amounts from friends and relatives and to clear the debts they chose crime.
In the first case, Nalgonda native Bonta Anil completed Master’s in mathematics from Kakatiya University. As he was addicted to gaming, he fell into a debt trap. His parents discovered this, cleared some of his debts, and moved him to Hy- derabad, where he started working as a tutor in a corporate institution in Lal Darwaza, police said.
For his daily travel, his parents even helped him buy a bike. He borrowed some more money to pay for the bike. However, pending loans were troubling him, making him resort to online gaming and betting and subsequently borrowing funds again. As he slipped into a financial crisis again, he decided to make quick money, cops said. In Sept and Oct, he allegedly committed two chain snatching offences at Pahadishareef and Ibrahimpatnam.
‘Debts had mounted to Rs 20 lakh, sold family land’
In the second case, S Srikanth had completed engineering and started a small business delivering poultry.
In Oct, he allegedly attacked an elderly person within the Madgul police station limits and stole his gold chain to pay online gaming debt.
Police said his debts amounted to 20 lakh and to clear them he even sold his family’s land in their native Mahabubnagar district.
Similar is the case of Vutukuri Prabhas, hailing from Suryapet district and studying engineering in Abdullapurmet.
According to police, he had committed a snatching offence in Hyderabad Green Pharma City police limits and was arrested.
Police said he was studying well but got addicted to online gaming and ran up a huge debt. Police said all these individuals were arrested based on clues from CCTV cameras.
“The fact that such young and bright minds are behind bars is painful. We are currently focusing on sensitising youth and students on drugs, other addictions and cybercrimes. But a collective effort from all stakeholders, including parents can only prevent our youth from falling into such a trap,” the deputy commissioner of police added.