Police open fire at fleeing burglars, apprehend them

The City police opened fire at two burglars when the duo attacked policemen with iron rods at a house in HMT Layout under Vidyaranyapura police limits in wee hours of Tuesday.

Puneeth Kumar R, police inspector of Vidyaranyapura station, opened fire at the armed burglars, who were trying to flee with the valuables. The burglars were spotted by a vigilant night beat head constable, Nagabhushan. He suffered head injuries in the attack and is being treated at a hospital. According to the police, Mithin (26) and Aadhil Heera (34), both natives of West Bengal, were shot in their legs and are being treated at Victoria hospital.

Nagabhushan was on night rounds and at around 4.30 am on Tuesday he noticed suspicious movements in the compound of the house belonging to Murali Manohar, a retired superintendent engineer from Andhra Pradesh and a native of Chittoor. The constable realised that the burglars were trying to make a forced entry into the house. He immediately alerted his superior, sub-inspector Byrappa, who was also on the night beat.

Byrappa rushed to the spot and informed inspector Puneeth Kumar. Around 5 am, the inspector along with other constables reached the spot. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Puneeth said, “ We had surrounded the house since the burglars were still inside. We entered the house and cornered them in the house, located on the first floor. They were trying to flee with a bag containing valuables, worth several lakhs.  When Nagabhushan tried to nab them, a burglars hit him on his head with an iron rod.”  The duo had broke open three doors of the building before they were cornered in the first floor of the house

Puneeth fired a warning round in the air but the miscreants did not budge and tried to attack other policemen. “That is when I fired two rounds at their legs. They collapsed on the ground and were arrested. We shifted them to Victoria Hospital and they are out of danger,” he said.
The two had come to the City a week ago. They had done a recce of the house over the past two days and noticed that no one was at Manohar's house. Police said tell-tale evidence such as uncollected newspapers and milk packets near the main door prompted them to choose the house for a burglary.  The suspects appear to be habitual offenders and investigation is on to find out their antecedents, police added. Vidyaranyapura police have registered a case.