Gang rivalries keep cops on tenterhooks

Visakhapatnam: The gang rivalries and counter attacks with revenge became a new challenge  to City Police Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddah, as Mohammed Khasim, a rowdy-sheeter in the city was brutally murdered by his rival gang near LIC Building in the heart of the city on Thursday night.

Rowdy-sheeter  Khasim (40) was involved in more than dozen cases, including murder and extortion cases, under various police station limits in the city. 

The serial murders of gang-rivalry in the city has become a cause for concern for the city police for the past few years as the murders have been sending shocking waves among the denizens and tarnishing the peaceful image of the city. 

According to police sources, Khasim was a native of KGH down road, Salipeta area under One Town Police Station limits in the city and he was running a small finance firm.

Khasim was also a relative of rowdy-sheeter Anil Kumar, who was brutally done to death by a gang comprising Chittimamu, Narasimha Murthy (Natchu), Podugu Kiran and a few others, near Allipuram in the city in May 2015. Khasim was arrested under PD Act in October 2017 and he was released from the prison a month ago. 

The police said that Khasim was returning to his home from Dwarakanagar on his bike on Thursday night around 10.30 pm, a group of four persons, two in an auto-rickshaw and other two on bike followed him and attacked Khasim with sharp-edged weapon. As a result, Khasim fell from the two-wheeler, immediately the four persons stabbed Khasim to death and fled the spot.  

City Police Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddah said that they are suspecting that Khasim was murdered by his rival gang. Though the cops of One-Town visited Khasim's home on Thursday evening to inform him to visit the police station for counselling, Khasim was not present at home at that time, he added. “We formed special teams to nab the accused and will take a series of steps to act tough against the rowdy- sheeters, he added.