Three arrested for shooting at cow vigilante in Hyderabad: Police
The four are accused of having shot at Bidla Prashant Kumar alias Sonu (29) on Wednesday after a bitter argument
HYDERABAD: Three men have been arrested on charges of opening fire at a cow vigilante who tried to stop them in Pocharam on the outskirts of Hyderabad, police said on Thursday.
The three men were identified as Mohammad Ibrahim Qureshi (24) from Bandlaguda, Kuruva Srinivas (29) from Shahbad and Hassanbin Mohsin (22) from Kalapathar area, said Rachakonda police commissioner G Sudheer Babu
“Another accused, Mohammad Haneef Qureshi (34) is still absconding. The police are on the look out for him,” the top police officer said.
The four are accused of having shot at Bidla Prashant Kumar alias Sonu (29), who was being treated for a bullet injury at Yashoda Hospital in Secunderabad.
Quoting from a complaint filed by Sonu’s mother Bidla Radhika, the police commissioner said the incident happened at around 5 pm on Wednesday near Pocharam IT corridor at Yamnampet, Ghatkesar.
“Prashant, an activist of Go Rakshak Dal, received a call from his friend Srinivas to meet him at Yamnampet. When he went there, he was confronted by Ibrahim, Haneef Qureshi and Hassan Bin Mohsin, who questioned him for exposing their illegal cattle transportation,” Sudheer Babu said.
At some point, Ibrahim retrieved a gun from his car and shot Prashanth in the right side of his chest before fleeing. The Pocharam police shifted Sonu to Srikara Hospital at Medipally and later moved him to Yashoda Hospital in Secunderabad.
The police coordinated with the super speciality doctors and collected one bullet from the injured body, the commissioner said.
The top police officer said special police teams were formed to track down the accused and three of them were arrested within 12 hours.
“Police seized a country-made pistol, a Maruti Swift car, three mobile phones, two empty cartridges and other material from them,” Sudheer Babu said.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that the accused grudged Prashant for drawing attention to their illegal cattle transportation business, which had led to a ₹1 crore loss.
“The arrested also alleged that Prashant had demanded ₹5 lakh to stop his vigilante activities,” the commissioner said.
The accused have been booked under sections 109 (attempt to murder) and 61 (2) read with 3 (5) (criminal conspiracy of Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita, besides Sections 25(1)(a) and 27 of Arms Act 1959.
“The accused have already been facing several cases in the past, including under Telangana State Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act & Sec 9 and 11 of Prevention of Cruelty Act,” the commissioner said.
