An unidentified bike rider has been unleashing terror in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh with pin prick attacks on girls and women injecting yet-to-be-identified substance into them. The bike rider had pricked at least nine women travelling alone with a syringe needle in the past week but police say the victims haven’t been injected with harmful substances.

The West Godavari district police have launched a massive man hunt for the “syringe psycho” involved in the mysterious ‘injection attacks’ on girls and women in the district. The man who roams on a black Pulsar bike, covers his face with a handkerchief, and is said to be around 30 years old. Most of the women were pricked on their buttocks during morning hours.

The authorities have released a portrait based on a few sightings and have barricaded roads at several places to check every biker in the district. Special teams have also been formed to find the culprit, with the help of local residents, and the police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone helping in the identification of the suspect. Announcing the reward at a news conference at the District Police Office on Thursday, West Godavari district superintendent of police Bhaskar Bhushan added that 40 special teams, including mobile teams and mufti police teams, had been deployed to nab the culprit. He said that 15 check-posts had also been set up in the district to nab him.

The District police also said that so far the miscreant had been involved in 13 ‘injection attacks’ in areas under the Palacole, Veeravasaram, Penugonda, Undi and Anantapalli police station limits. The first case was reported on August 22. “And on Tuesday and Wednesday, a few more incidents took place. We have intensified our hunt to nab the offender who seems to be a pervert enjoying his prank,” said Bhaskar Bhushan. The miscreant used to ride on a motorcycle in the morning hours and attack girls and women at isolated places in rural areas with injection needles on their back

Bhusan said two such needles had been seized so far and sent for examination. Preliminary tests found no hazardous substance in the needles or in the victims, though the women suffered shock. The attacked women were stable and their blood samples were sent to a Hyderabad lab. He urged the girls and women in the rural areas not to panic if attacked by the miscreant as there was no danger from such pricks.