Dacoity bid foiled, two cops hurt

Hyderabad: Two cops were injured in an attack by an armed gang of dacoits when a police patrol chanced upon a gang which was trying to burgle a retired army official’s house in Om Sai Colony at Bolarum in the early hours of Wednesday.

The 10-member gang had entered the house by breaking a door and removing a window. The police had come to the spot to sign the “Point Book” kept at the gate of the house. Though the four-member unarmed police team caught one of the dacoits, the others attacked the cops with stones, and rescued him before fleeing into the darkness. Police officials said the patrolling team could not tackle the gang as they did not have arms.

The house owner, Brigadier G.B. Reddy and his wife Raksha Reddy were fast asleep in their bedroom at the time of the incident. The couple praised the police for the timely intervention. “We are lucky the police reached the house in time. Otherwise, the dacoits would have killed us,” said the 75-year-old G.B. Reddy, who is also a writer.

The incident occurred at around 3 am, when the policemen, an ASI, two HCs, and a home guard from the Bolarum police station were doing their routine rounds in the colony. “When I stepped down from our vehicle to sign the book kept at Mr Reddy’s gate, I saw a man sitting behind the car parked in front of the house. When I shouted ‘who is that,’ we saw movements inside the house.

Realising the situation we rushed to the front of the house to catch the first thief, and alert the house owner, but suddenly, four people jumped out through a window, whose grills had been removed. Suddenly four other dacoits emerged from the darkness,” said head constable B. Ranga Swami, who was injured in the incident.

Cops said the dacoits had weapons like knives and iron rods, and had a pile of stones wrapped around their hip. “We caught one of them. But the others took out stones and started throwing it at us from both sides. As we two were injured the dacoit escaped. All of them scaled the wall, and jumped out of the compound. We ran after them, but they kept on throwing stones,” said Mr Swami. Officials said the dacoits disappeared into the bushes near the railway tracks.

The burglars had entered the first floor through the stairs and had broke open the door and almirahs. However, they did not get any valuables. “They then entered the ground floor by removing window grills,” said Mr G. Jagan, the inspector of Bolarum.

The house owner Mr B.N. Reddy, who had a licensed firearm, said the dacoits could have easily entered their open bedroom and attacked them.

“My gun was near my bed, but I would not have got time to use it. The dacoits could have easily taken it and used it against me,” he said, adding that from now, he would take more precautions and lock the bedroom. Mr Reddy said the patrolling policemen should have had weapons.

The police said they have booked a case for dacoity. North Zone police has formed special teams to nab the dacoits and to investigate the case.