A man accused of stabbing a police constable to death, who was taken into custody by police and admitted to a hospital in Telangana’s Nizamabad, was shot dead inside the hospital on Monday by police personnel after he allegedly tried to snatch a gun from them.
Sheik Riyaz was accused of killing 42-year-old police constable E Pramod on Saturday. According to Nizamabad police, Riyaz was admitted in a hospital because he had sustained minor injuries in “a clash” with a “civilian who had helped the police to nab him” on Sunday. The civilian, Asif, was also stabbed by Riyaz, police said.
At the Government General Hospital (GGH), Nizamabad, on Monday morning, Riyaz allegedly attempted to snatch a constable’s gun, “forcing police to open fire”, police said.
“The police opened fire to secure the staff, including doctors and nurses, at the hospital,” a press release from Telangana Director General of Police Shivadhar Reddy’s office read.
The DGP’s statement said the accused, “who had already murdered a constable and injured others, had managed to get hold of a gun at the hospital”. There could have been a bloodbath at the hospital had the police not intervened, it said, adding, “The police opened fire only after considering all possible consequences.”
Riyaz, who has an extensive criminal record, was arrested on Sunday after police cast a “widespread net”, police said.
The Home Department portfolio in Telangana rests with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Nizamabad Commissioner of Police P Sai Chaitanya held a press meet on Monday and said an “inquest and postmortem will be held as per protocol” in the encounter case. “As per the standard operating procedure, a case has been registered and inquiry into the encounter is on,” Chaitanya said.
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In 2019, four men accused of raping and murdering a veterinarian in Hyderabad were killed in a police encounter. The Supreme Court had set up an inquiry commission to investigate this encounter.
