Hyderabad: The two armed assailants involved in the Suryapet shooting, who fled from the bus station after killing two policemen, were shot dead in a fierce gun battle at Janakipuram village in Nalgonda on Saturday morning.
However, a police constable was killed and two other cops including a Circle Inspector were injured. The dramatic chase and exchange of fire continued for at least two hours on village roads. The killers snatched two bikes from villagers to escape. The duo was so aggressive that they jumped off the bikes and ran towards the oncoming police car shooting at the cops. They used two pistols and a carbine to fire at the cops.
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Police recovered two country-made firearms and a carbine, which was taken away by the duo after killing the cops at a bus station in Suryapet on Thursday.
At least 20 police teams from Bhongir and Suryapet division started chasing the duo through different roads after they received information about them. The exchange of fire occurred when the killers, who were on bikes, came face-to-face with two police cars.
The two, who were reportedly identified as Aslam Ayub and Zakir Hussain, were suspected to be members of the banned Islamic outfit Simi. Though police is yet to confirm the names of the killers, Telangana state police higher officials have said that the Simi connection of the two assailants is apparent.
The high-voltage chase started at around 5 am after police received a tip-off that the two were hiding in Arvapally. While few cops chased them on bikes, around 20 police cars, mainly Sumos, were tailing the two.
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“Before Janakipuram, they snatched a vehicle from one of the villagers. Atmakur SI G.D. Siddaiah and his driver were just behind them. Ramannapet CI Bala Gangireddy and his gunmen were behind the SI’s vehicle in another SUV. At a curve in Jankipuram village road, the duo jumped off their bike, and ran towards the sub-inspector’s vehicle firing. Both SI and police constable Nagaraju sustained several bullet injuries,” said a police officer who was in the operation.
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“Ramannapet CI Gangireddy, who was behind the sub-inspector’s car, got down from the vehicle and opened fire. At the same time, his gunman, constable Venkateswarlu also opened fire on the assailants. Meanwhile, the CI was hurt as one bullet hit his shoulder. However, he continued to fire despite being injured. Eventually, both the killers collapsed,” said Bhongir division DSP S. Mohan Reddy, who was chasing the assailants on a bike.
