Hyderabad: Cops fiddle with guns, court danger

Hyderabad: Cops are trained to treat their weapons 'as an extension of their arms', but recent incidents show some officers are careless with their weapons..  While senior police officials from both AP and Telangana claim that officers are given regular weapon training, a series of serious mishandling of weapons by lower rank officials prove otherwise.

The most recent incident is Chittoor Armed Reserve constable, the gunman of Palamaner MLA N. Amarnath Reddy, losing his 9 mm pistol and 10 rounds of live bullets. The constable was coming to Hyderabad from Chittoor in an APSRTC bus on Sunday. “He lost his weapon due to negligence. We have now send a report against him to Chittoor police,” said G. Giridhar, the ACP of Sultan Bazaar.

A serious weapon mishandling happened in the third week of February when an MLA’s driver was shot dead with a cop’s pistol. Narsapur MLA Madan Reddy’s driver Syed Akbar died on the spot when a bullet hit his chest during a friendly scuffle with the MLA’s gunman B. Ravinder, who was allegedly careless with his weapon.

In May 2015, a Special Branch inspector was injured when he accidentally fired at his stomach while cleaning the weapon at the AR Centre in Nalgonda.
Another tragedy occurred at the US consulate in Begumpet. A State Special Police constable was killed when his own weapon misfired.

The bullet from his rifle got stuck in his stomach and he succumbed in hospital.
Senior officials said an important part of weapon training is how to handle firearms safely.

 “The officers in civil police and all cops in armed reserve are given training on how to handle their arms and ammunition safely. It is only when cops take weapons for granted and mishandles it mishaps happen,” an IPS official said.