Armed gangsters opened fire on a police party frisking suspects at Suryapet Hi-tech bus-stand in Nalgonda district, killing two policemen and injuring two others, just after Wednesday midnight. They took away the carbine of one of the policemen from the spot.
The assassins, believed to be members of a gang from Uttar Pradesh, later shot at a civilian on the Suryapet highway -- a few kilometres away from the bus-stand -- while trying to stop the car he was driving. Following the incident, high alert was sounded across Telangana from the early hours of Thursday.
Besides dispatching several police teams in search of the offenders, massive vehicle checking was taken up all over the State. “We will catch the culprits within 24 hours and salute the constable M. Lingaiah and Home Guard K. Mahesh who lost their lives at the altar of duty,” said Home Minister Nayani Narsimha Reddy.
Along with Minister for Energy G. Jagdish Reddy, he visited the injured Suryapet Inspector Mogilaiah and Home Guard Kishore after they were shifted to a private hospital in Hyderabad, where they are recuperating.
A few weeks ago, the Suryapet police caught three members of a gang stealing valuables from bus passengers. On a tip-off that the arrested trio’s accomplices were moving in the area, the police had been conducting checks for the past few days. Leading a police party of three constables and two home guards, Inspector Mogilaiah went to Suryapet bus-stand around midnight for random checking.
“The bus halted at the platform when two policemen went inside and asked two of the passengers to get off as they behaved suspiciously,” Nalgonda SP T. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu . Even as the two men were being taken to the Inspector, the duo whipped out firearms and started firing indiscriminately.
Spot dead
Death was instant for Lingaiah and Mahesh. After killing the two, the assassins took away the carbine of the slain constable and fled. Later, they tried to stop a car heading towards Hyderabad on Suryapet highway. They fired at the car injuring its driver, G. Dorababu, MPTC member from West Godavari.
The killers, believed to be members of a gang from UP, also shot at a civilian on the Suryapet highway while fleeing
