Police launched search operations in Telangana's Nalgonda district amid reports of possible presence of more terror suspects in the area on Sunday, a day after two men and a policeman were killed in a gunfight.
Police teams were searching Arvapalli and surrounding areas, where the suspects, though to be operatives of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), were believed to be hiding. Sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) have also joined the search.
Though Telangana Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy denied that the two men gunned down on Saturday had any terror links and were members of gang of dacoits from Uttar Pradesh, police and intelligence suspect that they were among the five SIMI operatives who had escaped from Khandwa jail in Madhya Pradesh in 2013.
Telangana Police have not officially revealed the identity of the duo.
The armed men and a policeman were killed in a fierce gunfight in Janakipur village in Nalgonda. Two police officers were also injured and the condition of one of them continued to be critical.
The gunfight occurred two days after the same men gunned down two policemen and injured two others in Suryapet town in the same district, about 130 km from Hyderabad. They opened fire when policemen were questioning them after stopping a bus in which they were coming to Hyderabad from Vijayawada in the early hours of Thursday.
Special police teams are focussing on Arvapalli as the two suspects believed to have visited Khaja Naseeruddin Baba dargah after the incident at Suryapet.
Also Read
Police suspect there could have been three or more people. The officials are questioning few residents including the in charge of dargah. Sources have not ruled out the possibility of one or more suspects hiding in the area.
The slain suspects also believed to have hidden their weapons, laptops and other materials in the area.
The investigating teams are trying to identify those who gave shelter to the suspects. They are also looking into the activities they might have carried out in Telangana and adjoining Andhra Pradesh.
The probe teams are trying to see if the same suspects were involved in thefts in a finance company in RC Puram in Medak district and a bank dacoity in Karimnagar.
Meanwhile, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu visited a private hospital in Hyderabad, where the two injured police officers are undergoing treatment.
He said the central government was ready to provide all assistance to Telangana in the probe. He lauded the exemplary courage shown by policemen in fighting the enemies.
Naidu advised both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to coordinate their efforts to deal with anti-national elements.