Cattle transporter among three held for firing at 'Gau rakshak' in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Oct 23 (PTI) Three persons, including a cattle transporter, were on Thursday arrested in connection with the attempted murder case wherein a 28-year-old 'gau rakshak' (Protector of Cows) was shot at and injured near here, police said.

The incident occurred in Ghatkesar on Wednesday evening, when the prime accused, a 24-year-old, who is into the cattle transport business, opened fire at B Prashanth Kumar alias Sonu Singh, a 'Gau Rakshak Dal' activist.

According to police, Kumar was called to the location by one of his friends, where he met the other accused and they had a discussion for an hour.

The accused confronted him for exposing their "illegal" cattle transportation, and in the ensuing argument, the prime accused retrieved a gun from his car and allegedly shot Kumar on the right side of the chest before all of them fled, police said.

On receiving information, police rushed to the scene and got the injured shifted to a hospital. A surgery was conducted and one bullet was retrieved from his body. His condition is stated to be "out of danger", police said.

Speaking to reporters, Rachakonda Police Commissioner G Sudheer Babu said police found that they (accused and the victim) were in regular interaction with each other over the phone since July this year and had also met.

The investigation revealed the motive as retaliation by the cattle transporter on Kumar for allegedly causing an estimated Rs one crore loss to him by intercepting his vehicles. It was also found that there was a potential conflict arising from the victim's alleged demand for Rs 5 lakh to cease his activities, police said.

Special teams were formed and three out of the four accused were arrested at Shamshabad on Thursday, while another accused is absconding. Police seized one country made pistol and one car from the possession of the accused.

Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar, BJP MP K Laxman, and other party leaders on Thursday met Kumar at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao, and other party leaders and workers were stopped by police when they were planning to organise a protest programme at the office of the Director General of Police over the incident. PTI VVK GDK VVK KH