Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Two dacoits shot dead

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD NOV. 9. Police shot dead two members of the Olive Green dacoit gang when they allegedly tried to escape from police custody after snatching a pistol and opening fire at the escort team near Palmakul village of Rangareddy district in the wee hours of Saturday.

The Rajendranagar CI, Sarveshwar Reddy, who sustained a bullet injury when the duo opened fire, was admitted to the Apollo Hospital. The two dacoits, who were arrested recently, tried to flee after the police jeep in which they were being escorted back to the station skidded off the road while trying to avoid a lorry which screeched to a halt.

The police jeep skidded and fell into a roadside ditch. The occupants of the jeep doubled up under the impact and seizing the opportunity, the two dacoits allegedly snatched the pistol which fell from the holster of an SI also travelling in the jeep.

The incident took place when the police party, along with the two dacoits, was returning to Rajendranagar after interrogating a receiver of stolen property at Shadnagar, named by the duo.

Nine members of the gang, which kept the police on tenterhooks and terrorised people in the city suburbs for two months, were nabbed by the Ranga Reddy district police on October 16. Its leader, Kodati Venkata Krishna alias Zinnah, who slipped the police dragnet on that day, was shot dead by a special team of the Nalgonda police during a raid in Cuddapah two days later.

The two slain dacoits -- Chanti alias Shiva Kumar (25) (younger brother of Zinnah) and Sammaiah (35), a former naxalite hailing from Warangal who subsequently joined the gang -- were among the nine arrested on October 16. According to the Ranga Reddy SP, M.V. Ramachandra Raju, the duo were taken into custody on November 5 along with four others of the gang for recovery of some stolen property.

The duo were taken to Shadnagar by a team of Rajendranagar police, comprising the Inspector Sarveshwar Reddy, SI Ashok and four constables, to recover the stolen property sold to the receiver. After questioning the receiver, the police party left Shadnagar around 9.30 pm, had dinner at a roadside hotel and headed for Rajendranagar.

The police vehicle went into a skid when the driver of the lorry moving in the front suddenly applied brakes. Both the cops and the handcuffed dacoits somersaulted as the police vehicle skidded into a roadside pit. While the handcuffs of Sammaiah came off, Ashok's service pistol fell on the ground, police claimed.

The SP said Sammaiah grabbed the pistol and threatened the police. When Mr. Sarveshwar Reddy tried to catch Sammaiah, the latter fired two rounds at him. The police party returned the fire. While the Inspector fired four rounds with his revolver, the constables fired six rounds killing the two dacoits on the spot.

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