Police officers examine the scene of police firing in Nampally in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Police fired shots in self-defense to deter two armed robbers who allegedly attempted to attack them at Nampally railway station on Thursday midnight. One of the alleged assailants suffered a bullet injury to the leg in the incident.
The Central Zone decoy team consisting of one Armed Reserve Police Constable and a Civil Police Constable were conducting decoy operation near the railway station when they noticed the duo moving in suspicious circumstances adjacent to the Ghouse-e-Pak Chilla.
Accoding to the police, a search found an axe concealed under the shirt of one of them. On enquired about it, the duo charged at the decoy team. “The person carrying the axe took it out and charged at the decoy team and the other, grabbed stones from around and started pelting at the cops. The decoy team warned the two persons to surrender and drop the weapons, but they refused to heed,” said a senior police official.
In self-defense, from close proximity, one of the cops opened fire on the person brandishing axe, injuring him on right thigh. The other person ran away from the scene but was later taken into custody.
The injured who was shifted to Osmania General Hospital for treatment was identified as Raju (19) from Mangar Basthi while his accomplice was found to be Mohd Khaja (19) from Habeebnagar, and both working for a band troupe.
Investigations revealed that the duo was involved in robberies and pickpocketing earlier.
“They confessed to pick pocketing and robbing pedestrians and pavement dwellers. Just before the incident also, they had committed theft of Rs.400 from a person sleeping on the pavement in Nampally,” the official said.
The city police is conducting decoy operations and disarming drills at crime prone areas for the past one month to control the property and bodily offences during night time. It resulted in the arrest of several chain, phone snatching and robbery gangs in the city.
Recent firing instances:
*July 5: Nalgonda police opened fire to arrest four members of the Pardhi Gang near Pedda Amberpet.
* In June, police opened fire on two offenders who had snatched a mobile phone from a person in Secunderabad.