Warangal: A team of the Central Crime Station, Warangal, was thrashed by locals in Rajasthan, where it had gone to investigate house burglary cases.
Assistant sub-inspector Shiva Kumar was severely beaten up and admitted to the ICU of a private hospital in Jaipur. An inspector and three constables were injured.
The team comprising crime branch inspector David Raju, Mr Shiva Kumar and three constables made their way to Rajasthan after getting a lead related to a gang involved in several burglaries in the Subedari area of Hanamkonda in Warangal Urban district.
After tracing the calls of one of the suspects to Palola in Rajasthan, they confirmed that the gang was based in that state. The police zeroed in on one Suresh Bagaria who was suspected to be the gang leader organising the burglaries.
The team hired a private vehicle from Jaipur and met the Phulia Kalan police and sought their help to nab Bagaria.
Together with constable Shambu Singh, they searched for Bagaria in Palola and came to know that he was hiding at his sister’s place in Baratiya.
They went to Baratiya but could not find him. Instead, they located another suspect, Ram Karan Bagaria, said to be a relative and top aide of the supect.
When the police tried to take him away, a large number of locals, especially women, started assaulting the officials. As they were dressed in plain clothes, the villagers did not immediately identify them as police and allegedly mistook them to be child abductors.
Constable Shambu Singh alerted the local police who rushed to the rescue of the Warangal police team. About 25 villagers are said to have been taken into custody for the assault.
It is learnt the Warangal team is headed back after arresting a gang member, Ram Karan.
