An unidentified person attempted to abduct pharma major Aurobindo vice-president K. Nityananda Reddy near KBR Park, firing eight rounds with an AK 47 rifle, in Banjara Hills but fled as the latter’s brother tried to catch him on Wednesday.
Mr. Reddy and his sibling K. Prasad Reddy escaped unhurt in the incident reported around 7.20 a.m. while the offender ran away leaving behind the rifle and a bag containing his belongings. The gunshots and the attempt to kidnap at the park, frequented by some prominent people including top bureaucrats, jolted the morning walkers.
Finishing his walk, the corporate honcho walked up to his Audi car parked 100 yards away from the park main gate where two policemen in a patrol car were present. Even as he sat in the driver’s seat and was about to fasten his seat belt, the attacker sneaked into the adjacent seat and pointed the rifle at his chest.
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“Start the car, I want money” the intruder barked in Telugu. Mr. Reddy told him that he was ready to give money. “Asking the stranger not to harm me, I caught hold of the barrel and shoved it aside,” Mr. Reddy later told the police.
Apparently panicking at the unexpected reaction, the attacker pulled the trigger and bullets pierced through the windscreen. Meanwhile, Mr. Reddy shouted, clambered out and started screaming for help. Prasad Reddy, who was a stone’s throwaway, came running and caught the attacker from behind.
In the scuffle, the intruder fired again pumping some more bullets which hit the car and the ground. He, however, managed to free himself from Prasad Reddy’s grip by biting the latter’s hand. He ran away by the time two policemen alerted by the commotion rushed there.
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Hyderabad Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy, along with other senior officials, examined the spot. Mr Mahender Reddy said the firing incident did not appear to have any links with the criminal case against Nityananda Reddy who is an accused in the YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s quid pro quo cases.
Nityananda Reddy is the third accused in the first of the eleven charge sheets against Jagan. He has regularly appeared in the CBI court at Nampally where all cases against Jagan are being tried
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao later in a statement read out in the Telangana Assembly said that the firing was a result of extortion bid by the person who wielded the AK-47. He said an AK 47 rifle was lost from Greyhounds — the elite commando force fighting left-wing extremists — on December 26, 2013.
Narsingi police of Cyberabad had also registered a theft case. Special police teams were formed to identify and nab the attacker. Police are verifying how the stolen firearm landed in the hands of offenders and if anyone connected to the weapon theft were involved in the firing.