A Maoist, who later went against his comrades by unleashing terror against civil liberties activists, was killed in an encounter by the Telangana Police in Mahbubnagar district on Monday.
Nayeemuddin alias Bhongir Nayeem (40), as he was known, joined Maoism in 1989. He was involved in about 100 cases, including murders of IPS officer K S Vyas, surrendered Maoist Sambasivudu, his brother Ramulu, another ex-Maoist Patlolla Goverdhan Reddy, civil liberties leader Purushottam and lady balladeer Belli Lalitha, to name a few.
Escape
He had escaped the police net 11 times and was living underground since then. He was involved in large-scale extortion and settlement of land deals in Telangana.
Nayeemuddin rose to national fame after his involvement in the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh. His role in the encounter came under the scanner after the Gujarat CID sleuths found that he was the third person who had travelled with Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad.
Nayeemuddin had invited Sohrabuddin, his wife and sister to Hyderabad for Eid.
He had also booked bus tickets for the couple to return to Gujarat. However, the police caught the couple midway and later killed them.
According to Mahbubnagar SP Rema Rajeswari, the district police, on a tip-off from Nizamabad, surrounded Millennium Township near Shadnagar in the morning and vacated surrounding houses as a precautionary measure.
The Greyhounds team - an elite anti-extremist force of the Telangana Police and special units challenged Nayeemuddin, who at that time was in his white SUV and had not been identified, opened fire on the police.
While his driver escaped, Nayeemuddin was shot dead in the exchange of fire that went on for 10 minutes.
The police later identified his body and reportedly found huge stash of cash at his hideout apartment in Narsingi where he was living with his family members under round-the-clock security by gang members.