Hunter shot dead by two ‘friends’ in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The death of a 35-year-old hunter after an alleged misfire from a country-made weapon turned out to be a case of murder in Nizamabad.

One of the two men who were accompanying the victim, Ranoji Banowath, while hunting animals in the forests on the border of Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts, shot him to death following a heated argument.

According to police, two days ago, Ranoji Banowath and his two friends Banowath Rami Reddy from Sarthapur Thanda and Baddam Asireddy, a resident of Machareddy, went to hunt animals using illegal country-made weapons. At the reserve forest of Sirikonda mandal, there were arguments between Ranoji and the other two.

"During arguments, Ashireddy, a former Maoist, and Rami Reddy shot Ranoji with the gun. Later, they created a scene to show that Ranoji had died after a misfire. On questioning the accused, they confessed to killing their friend," a Nizamabad police official said. Ashireddy had surrendered before the police a few years back.

The arrested duo were produced before the court for judicial remand. Police seized two illegal weapons from Asireddy. Police said that the initial postmortem reports revealed that the victim was murdered.