Pronouncing the quantum of punishment to eight members of the "snake gang" convicted yesterday, the Ranga Reddy district court today sentenced seven of the accused to life imprisonment, and the eighth to 20 months of jail.
The court had yesterday convicted eight members of the gang found guilty in various crimes including terrorizing people using snakes on the city's outskirts.
The judge said that the accused had behaved in an inhuman manner by using poisonous snakes to terrorize their victims.
Nine persons were arrested by the Pahadi Sharif police on July 31, 2014, on a complaint filed by a woman after she and her friend were intimidated and she was sexually assaulted at a farmhouse. The police had later found that the gang was involved in several similar cases - threatening girls with snakes and sexually assaulting them, and extorting money from others.
A total of 37 victims came forward to complain after that, and 21 of them deposed before the court. The police filed cases against the gang menbers under various sections of the IPC including 323, 395 and 452 for gang rape, torture and dacoity. They also filed a case under section 376-D of the Nirbhaya Act.
It may be mentioned here that the snake gang had created a scare among the people until 2014. It was reported that the gang members had gatecrashed a farmhouse on July 31, 2014, on the city outskirts and gangraped a girl in front of her boyfriend. The accused were arrested by the Cyberabad police after a massive operation in the Old City, in which 400 policemen participated. The investigation revealed that the gang was involved in several crimes including extortion, and was also settling disputes. After a thorough probe, the police filed an elaborate chargesheet against nine accused.