Accused in KBR Park shooting caught in Kurnool

November 20, 2014 10:59 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 04:44 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Prime accused in the shooting and kidnap bid on Aurobindo Pharma vice president K. Nityananda Reddy, Obulesu, has been picked up by the city police in Kurnool where he was hiding. Earlier, special teams, including Task Force personnel, had gone to Kadapa and also Kurnool districts to catch him. Obulesu joined the APSP second battalion as a constable in 1998 and worked with Greyhounds from 2002. He was shifted to Amberpet Central Police Lines and later deputed to the Excise Department a few months ago. He is currently on leave.

Meanwhile, what is intriguing is how the stolen AK 47 rifle belonging to Greyhounds -- the elite commando force formed to fight left-wing extremists -- land in the hands of the gang that tried to abduct Mr Nityananda Reddy?

Same weapon, say police

Though the police confirmed that it was the same weapon stolen from the Greyhounds personnel, no one is ready to explain how the gang managed to lay hands on it. Officials of the Greyhounds centre at Premavathipet complained to the Narsingi police of Cyberabad in February this year that the weapon was ‘missing’.

They maintained that the firearm was deposited in the armoury on December 22, 2013, after a team of Greyhounds returned to the centre from Visakhapatnam completing a field operation. Four days later, they realised that the weapon was ‘missing’. Apparently after making internal inquiries, seeking explanations and verifications, a complaint was formally lodged with the police on February 3, 2014.

30 persons questioned

“From the person who had carried the weapon to Premavathipet centre to all others having access to it, about 30 persons were questioned, but there was no clue,” a police officer, who supervised investigation of the stolen AK 47 rifle, said. Unwilling to be quoted, the officer said there was little the Narsingi police could do to recover the weapon in the absence of ‘leads’.

He maintained, however, that it was tough to narrow down on suspects as there were over 1,000 Greyhounds personnel in Premavathipet. Police sources say, interestingly, that Obulesu too was among the persons examined in the case of the stolen AK 47 rifle.

Six persons were suspended for disappearance of the firearm. Inquiries also revealed that the Greyhounds didn’t bother to bring the missing weapon’s issue to the notice of the Cyberabad police. Now that it is clear that Obulesu had the weapon with him, officials wonder how it had missed the attention of the Narsingi police.

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