Hyderabad, Jan 17 (IANS): The Manager of a private travel agency was injured when two men, suspected to be involved in a Rs 93 lakh robbery in Bidar town of Karnataka, opened fire in the Afzalgunj area in Hyderabad on Thursday.
The incident sent panic in the crowded area and police sounded an alert to nab the assailants, who escaped after firing two rounds. The incident occurred when a team of Karnataka police were trying to nab the suspects, who had boarded a private bus to go to Raipur.
Jahangir, ticket manager of Roshan Travels, was injured when the assailants opened fire. Moazzam told the media that two persons came to the agency office at 3.30 to book tickets to Raipur in the name of Amit Kumar. They boarded a minibus which was to take them and other passengers to the city outskirts, from where the bus for Raipur was to start.
As the two men were found to be suspicious, the ticker manager insisted that they open their bags when they boarded the bus. One of them tried to hand over a bundle of currency notes to silence him. However, Jahangir refused to take the money and ordered them to open the bags. One of them pulled out a weapon and opened two rounds on Jahangir. The assailants escaped towards Osmania Hospital.
A couple of policemen from Karnataka were also on the bus. They were also going to Raipur for an investigation into another case.
An injured Jahangir came running to the office of the travel company and he was shifted to Essra Hospital. He was stated to be out of danger. Police rushed to the spot and launched a hunt for the assailants. B. Balaswami, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Zone) said that special teams have been formed to track down the robbers. Police were scanning the CCTV footage and gathering other clues.
Police suspect that the assailants were involved in the sensational robbery in Bidar town earlier in the day. The bike-borne assailants shot six rounds killing two security guards before decamping with Rs 93 lakh intended for loading at a State Bank of India (SBI) ATM at Shivaji Chowk in Bidar.
The incident occurred around 11.30 am as cash-loading staff arrived at the busy ATM location. Bidar police have formed multiple teams to track down the suspects.
As the assailants were believed to have headed towards Telangana, an alert was sounded on the inter-state border.