The expectations of the police that a bullet-hit Munna Darbadar would surrender himself, came to naught and instead led to the gruesome gun fight on Wednesday in which the alleged contract killer was shot dead and two police officers injured critically in Gulbarga. While sub-inspector Mallikarjun Bande is battling for his life in a super-specialty hospital in Hyderabad, assistant sub-inspector Udandappa also in a Hyderabad hospital, is said to be in a stable condition.
The police had specific information about Munna’s presence in his house and they carried out the raid in Hussaini Alam area.
How he got away“Munna fired shots from a country-made weapon and our officers returned fire, hitting him in the abdomen…. Hoping that the injured man would surrender, the plainclothes assault team retreated from the house. But after 10 minutes, Munna came out firing and ran towards a large number of onlookers. We had to hold fire fearing civilian casualties. Using this opportunity, Munna climbed onto the roof of a house and sped away by hopping from one roof to another,” district SP Amit Singh said.
On the runThe police teams began chasing and firing at him, and caught up with him after he entered Amjad Ali’s house in Anjuman Galli. Munna hid himself in a room and waited for the police team. Police reinforcements were rushed to the spot and bullet-proof vests were sent to protect the officers involved in the operation.
Mr. Singh said that SIs Murali and Hemantkumar barged into the house, but they came under fire. After repeated warnings, Munna came out of hiding with raised hands.
Mr. Murali grabbed Munna’s right hand and in the process his service revolver fell to the ground. Munna was too quick for the police. He is stated to have grabbed the service revolver from the floor and at the same time wiped out his country-made pistol, which he had hidden in his trousers, and began firing at the police with both weapons.
While Mr. Udandappa took two bullets in his stomach, Mr. Bande took a shot in his head. Meanwhile, other police officers rushed in and opened fire killing Munna on the spot.
Under surveillanceMr. Singh denied that the police were unprepared and did not take due precautions during the raid.
He said Munna’s house was kept under surveillance for over a week after his suspected involvement in the Muthoot FinCorp heist and they wanted to question him.
“We were aware of his antecedents and that he was involved in four murders and seven other crimes in Karnataka and Maharashtra,” Mr. Singh said.
The police were confident that questioning him would reveal more information about other cases.
