Hyderabad cops have narrow escape as crook opens fire

​Hyderabad: A team from Cyberabad police had a narrow escape in Guwahati as a criminal wanted in over 20 cases across the country opened fire at them from a close range. The criminal was, however, arrested and is being brought to city on a transit warrant, police said.

The case pertained to a cyber fraud registered at Cyberabad Cyber Crime police station. The case is based on a complaint by a city-based businessman who was cheated by unknown persons online. The fraudsters had lured the businessmen with a proposal to help him to establish call centers of various companies and collected Rs 76 lakh from the businessman before they vanished.

A team of police led by inspector Md Riyazuddin went to Guwahati to nab the accused. The police collected the details of the account holder Vipul Ali, including his mobile number and residential address.“We thought Ali may be just an account holder who had given his bank details to the crooks for commission, but Ali owned multi-storied villas and several high-end cars parked in the villa,” said inspector Riyazuddin.

The inspector said they had formed three teams and sought the help of Guwahati police to closely monitor the activities of Ali. When a team was about to close in on Ali, he drove in a car along with his friend Bhaskar Chakravarthy, and the team followed them in a car.

“They found that we were following them and tried to escape. After about an hour-long chase, we could intercept their vehicle. Ali’s friend Chakravarthy attempted to fire at the police with his pistol, but we managed to catch the duo,” said inspector Riyazuddin.

He said Bhaskar had been handed over to the Guwahati police along with the illegally procured gun, four live rounds and a car, while Ali is being brought to Hyderabad on transit warrant to produce in the local court. “We will seek his custody from the Court to interrogate. He is wanted in 20 cases across the country,” the inspector added.