Mounted police horse dies in freak mishap

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, AUG. 8. A dharna organised to protest against the alleged irregularities in the A.P.Transco billings proved fatal for a horse belonging to the mounted police force here on Wednesday. In a freak accident, the horse which was caught in the melee at Vidyuth Soudha premises, fell on the ground and hit a boulder resulting in its instantaneous death.

Following a call given by the Congress party, hundreds of party workers had gathered at Vidyut Soudha to protest against the hike in power tariff and wrong billings on Wednesday afternoon. The city police which made elaborate arrangements for maintaining law and order during the agitation also deployed ten mounted police personnel to control the crowd.

At the instructions of some police officials, all the ten horses were later taken inside the Vidyut Soudha premises by their riders. There, the horses were kept in a state of readiness without realising that they were standing close to the generator room. All hell broke loose around afternoon, when power failed in the Vidyut Soudha and an electrician started the generator.

Caught by surprise and panic at the loud sound of the generator coming from behind, all the horses were said to have started running amuck. As they ran helter-skelter, some of them fell on the ground and in the melee, Bahadur, the black horse, hit a boulder and collapsed on the spot. "It could have either broken its neck or taken the impact of fall on the head which caused its death," an official of the Transco observed.

Mr. K.Jagannath Rao, Additional Superintendent of Police, said the exact cause of Bahadur's death was yet to be confirmed. "We have also checked the place to rule out the possibility of the horse dying due to electrocution," he said.

Later, the Joint Commissioner, CAR Headquarters, Dr. B.L.Meena, visited and inspected Vidyut Soudha premises where the horse died. "We have ordered for the autopsy of the horse. A government veterinary doctor is already seized with the matter and we would know the exact cause of death by night," he told The Hindu. According to the officials, Bahadur was one of the horses that were recently brought from Dubai.

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