Two people received bullet injuries in Andhra Pradesh's Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam district as a team of police officers from Telangana's Nalgonda district opened fire at alleged ganja smugglers. The incident took place in the jurisdiction of the Chintapalli police station on Sunday, October 17, 2021. The Nalgonda police claimed that they had opened fire in self defense as a group of locals allegedly attacked them when they were carrying out their work pertaining to a ganja smuggling case which was registered in Telangana.
While the policemen from the team which consisted of two inspectors and two constables have not received any injuries, two people who allegedly attacked them have been shifted to Narispatnam area hospital and are receiving treatment for the bullet injuries. In the wake of allegations of increasing ganja consumption and peddling, the Hyderabad city police have registered as many as 78 cases seizing over 1400 kg of ganja in the last month.
In this backdrop, the Nalgonda police intercepted a vehicle which was smuggling 300 kg of ganja and arrested the accused. The investigation pointed to the origin of the ganja smuggling from Narispatnam in Visakhapatnam district and a team was sent by Nalgonda DIG and Superintendent of Police AV Ranganath to arrest the main accused.
According to the Nalgonda police, when officials were returning after arresting the accused, a group of people allegedly stopped a tipper vehicle on the ghat road to aid the escape of those who were arrested. The group allegedly attacked the cops as they got down to clear the road.
However, officials of the Visakhapatnam Rural Police said that they did not know what exactly transpired on the day of incident other than information given by their Nalgonda (Telangana) counterparts. Speaking to TNM, Visakhapatanam Rural Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Rao said, "The injured people are being treated and the statements are being recorded. A thorough investigation is taking place to know what exactly transpired at the time of the incident."
"At the moment, we can't give more details as the investigation is underway as we don't want to divulge anything," he added.