JOIN USUnidentified miscreants shot dead two policemen on Wednesday midnight at Suryapet RTC bus stand in Telangana. Two others, including a circle inspector, were also injured.
In an attempt to carjack and escape from the scene, the miscreants also shot a Mandal Parishat Territorial Constituency (MPTC) member from Andhra Pradesh, but escaped into the night without success.
The four policemen, belonging to Nalgonda district of Telangana, were conducting routine frisking at the bus stand when the Hyderabad-bound APSRTC bus from Vijayawada pulled into the platform.
CCTV footage showed the police search party entering the bus and emerging with two men, whom the police took aside intending to frisk.
But the men took out their guns and fired point-blank at the police party. Constable Lingayya (36) and home-guard Mahesh (35) died on the spot, while CI Mogilayya and constable Arvind were injured.
The injured policemen were immediately brought to Hyderabad and admitted to the KIMS hospital.
Home Minister Nayini Narsimha Reddy and Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Sharma took stock of the situation Thursday morning and offered condolences to families of the dead.
Doctors at KIMS said CI Mogilayya was recovering, but the condition of constable Arvind remains critical.
“We believe that it is the handy work of inter-state gangs who might have reached Hyderabad to unleash a series of thefts,” DGP Anurag Sharma said.
“We found certain ID cards belonging to the assailants. They might have been deliberately left there to misguide the investigation,” he added.
The suspected gang members also shot Gannamani Dorababu, an MPTC member from West Godavari district in AP, who was driving his car from Hyderabad and was passing the vicinity of the bus stand when the shooting happened. In a bid to escape the scene, the miscreants brandished their guns and asked Dorababu and wife Sandhyarani, who accompanied him, to get out of the car.
“They came towards my husband’s side at the driving seat. They shot at him as he accelerated and tried to escape. The bullet hit his shoulder,” Sandhyarani told media.
The discovery of an Odisha resident’s voter ID at the crime scene has prompted police to look into the possibility of the Maoists hand in the incident.
While police have sounded a high alert across Telangana, Nalgonda Superintendent of Police has said vital clues have emerged from the CCTV footage about the assailants.
Telangana government has announced Rs 25 lakh compensation for the constable and Rs 10 lakh for the home guard who died in the incident.