Hyderabad: The balladeer Gaddar carried a bullet in his body till his death, for over two decades, from April 6, 1997, when five unidentified persons opened fire at his residence.
The incident took place when N. Chandrababu Naidu was the Chief Minister, A. Madhava Reddy was the state home minister, H.J. Dora was the director general of police and R.P. Singh was the Hyderabad police commissioner.
Former DGP Dora said that Gaddar had enemies during the period, after he was expelled from the banned People's War Group. “Unknown persons opened fire at him,” he said.
Retired IPS officer R.P. Singh said he did not remember the incident and that he had never met Gaddar. “The government's ideology and Gaddar's ideology were different then,” he said.
When miscreants opened fire, five bullets pierced his body and Gaddar collapsed. Doctors removed four bullets; the fifth remained in the spinal cord. The case was then closed.
Gaddar would later liken the bullet to a symbol of state repression. Upon Telangana getting statehood, Gaddar met the state’s first DGP, Anurag Sharma, and requested that the case be reopened, but there was no response.
