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Policeman shot at by terror suspect

Marri Ramu

— Photo: Satish.H

In deep pain: Rama Raju of Counter Intelligence wing, being wheeled into the Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: A terror suspect wanted in Mecca Masjid blast case and his associates escaped after firing at three members of the Counter Intelligence police wing who tried to nab them near a bustling junction here on Wednesday.

A bullet fired by one of them pierced the abdomen of head constable Guru Ram Raju, while his colleague Md. Jaffar sustained a fracture on his right hand in the scuffle when they tried to overpower the wanted suspect Vikar Ahmed. Raju was admitted in a corporate hospital where doctors operated upon him.

The shoot-out involving suspected terrorists at the crowded Indira Seva Sadan crossroads in the communally-sensitive Santoshnagar area created panic among locals in light of the two deadly terror strikes last year.

Police sources said the presence of Vikar, his associate Amjad and two others, all of them reportedly possessing firearms, suggested that they could be plotting a major attack. “But their targets and their exact plans are yet to be ascertained,” they said.

Vikar was among the youth who disappeared on the night of May 18, 2007 following a bomb explosion in Mecca Masjid. Since then, the police had been trying to track their movements. On a tip-off that Vikar, a resident of Old Malakpet, returned to the city a month ago, a special police team kept surveillance on his movements.

On learning that he was inside a public telephone booth at IS Sadan junction, the police party stalked him. “He made a local call, spoke for about 12 minutes and stepped out when the three policemen surrounded him,” booth owner Ravinder Reddy told reporters.

Vikar resisted as the policemen caught him and dragged him for a few yards. His associate, believed to be Amjad, came running, whipped out a pistol and fired at the policemen from close range. Before the police could recover from the unexpected attack, Vikar too fired at them with a 9mm country-made pistol.

Head constable Raju collapsed when a bullet hit him even as his colleagues scurried for cover. Seizing the opportunity, Vikar and Amjad ran towards an accomplice waiting on a two-wheeler and sped away towards Champapet. Police seized a pistol and the two-wheeler left behind by the terror suspects.

Links with SIMI

City Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao said Vikar was an activist of Darsgah Jihad-O-Shahadat (DJS), a fundamentalist organisation, and suspected to have links with the outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

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