Hyd cops get wake-up call

• Mystery shrouds use of AK 47 belonging to Greyhounds
• Absence of security personnel in VVIP area raises concerns

The dream of the TRS government to convert Hyderabad into a crime-free city where safety and security would be the buzzwords took a turn for the worse on Wednesday. To make matters worse, a gruesome incident occurred in broad daylight in a colony that is abutted by VVIP residents.

The incident pertains to a foiled kidnap bid on the vice-chairman of Aurobindo Pharma around 7.20am at KBR Park in the posh Banjara Hills.

Although the ‘victim’ and his brother escaped because of their presence of mind that thwarted the unidentified assailant’s attempt, what becomes glaringly evident and sets of a fear psychosis is the apparent ill-equipped security cover in the area. The chinks in the security management got exposed as there were hardly any CCTV cameras in the surroundings. There is one CCTV camera at the traffic signal near the park. Though the TS government had recently given sleek Innova vehicles and new motor-cycles and provided patrol personnel with modern weapons they were not seen anywhere in the area though the park is used by VIPs, including the likes of N Kiran Kumar Reddy. What is even more dismal is that not even a single patrol vehicle was in the vicinity.

What is shocking is that the police manning the tip of the road remained oblivious and unsure whether the attacker was a terrorist or a Maoist. Nor did they know how the AK 47 that belongs to Greyhounds, found its way into the hands of the assailants. All that the city police commissioner M Mahender Reddy could say was that it was lost by Greyhounds personnel last year when they were returning from a combing operation in Visakhapatnam area and that a case was lodged in Narsingi police station. But the question is where did the weapon disappear and who was having it for the past one year and whether it was used for any other criminal activities elsewhere in the country? The police seem to be having an uphill task to unravel the mystery of the missing gun.

Ironically, the government, which should have shown more concern and swift action as part of a confidence building exercise, washed its hands off in the Assembly by making a statement which read more like a police press note.

In fact the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao even refused to mention the name of KBR Park apparently because it has been named after K Brahmananda Reddy, a former chief minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. The Home Minister did not visit the scene of incident.

Incidentally Aurobindo Pharma has been under CBI scanner which has been named as Accused No 3 (A-3) in the quid pro quo case of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and is accused of getting land allotted for its unit in an SEZ at a cheaper rate and contravening several rules.