Hyderabad: Two police officials were killed and three others, including a circle inspector, were seriously injured when an alleged interstate burglary gang opened fire at them in Suryapet of Nalgonda district early on Thursday morning.
The incident occurred after 12.30 am near the Hi-Tech bus station when Suryapet CI Y. Mogalaiah and his team arrived for routine checking. While district officials said that that the cops went there after receiving a tip-off, Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma said that there was no tip-off and it was a routine check.
“The officers were checking the bus passengers while the gang members were getting down. They caught two men moving suspiciously and questioned them. Sudd-enly, both pulled out guns and started firing. The officers could not return fire as it was unexpected,” said Mr Sharma.
Policemen had no safety gear
The police officers did not have even minimal safety gear during the Suryapet shootout. Only two cops were armed. They were in plainclothes and did not have bullet proof vests.
In the two recent encounters in Cyberabad the police suffered more casualties than the criminals. While the police brass say that if they knew the criminals were armed they would have taken precautions, experts say the police should have more bulletproof vests when they go for operations against armed criminals.
