Senior cop freed after being held hostage by suspended constable in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A four-hour-long 'hostage' drama ended late on Wednesday as a suspended head constable, who had taken a senior police official hostage, released him unharmed.

Giriprasad Sharma, a suspended head constable with the Police Transport Organisation, released Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakshminarayana from a shop near Birla Planetarium in the heart of the city.

The high drama ended around 11:15 pm after Director General of Police (DGP) Dinesh Reddy reportedly spoke to Mr Sharma over his mobile phone and promised to look into his demands.

Police shifted Mr Lakshminarayana to a hospital and took Mr Sharma into custody.

Mr Sharma's demands included suspension of Additional Superintendent of Police Vijaykumar, who was allegedly harassing him and was responsible for suspending him, allocation of Rs.100 crore to Police Transport Organisation and recruitment of 500 mechanics and drivers in the organization.

It was in the evening that Mr Sharma took the official hostage in a shop and sent a message from his mobile phone to some television channels around 7:30 pm.

He had locked the shutters from inside and threatened to kill the official and commit suicide if police tried to break in. He claimed that he was carrying 40 litres of petrol with him.

As the senior police officials along with a fire engine and fire fighting personnel surrounded the shop, Mr Sharma sent out a printed message, listing his demands. He wanted either the Home Minister or DGP to respond.

Mr Sharma relented after the DGP intervened and assured him that his demands would be considered.

The incident triggered panic in the police establishment and caused embarrassment to the top brass as the scene of crime is close to the state police headquarters.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy had appealed to the head constable to release the official and promised to take action against the Additional Superintendent of Police.

It was not immediately known why the SP had gone to a shop reportedly belonging to the head constable.

From: NDTV

Man arrested from Hyderabad for alleged terror links

Hyderabad/Bangalore: A 26-year-old man, Obaid ur Rehman, was arrested from Hyderabad today for alleged links with terror organisations.  He has been brought to Bangalore for questioning. This comes after 11 men, including a journalist and a junior scientist, were arrested for alleged terror links.

The 11 men have been sent to 14-day police custody and are being questioned. All 11 persons are suspected to have links with terror groups like the HuJI and Lashkar and were plotting to assassinate some politicians, journalists and some representatives of Hindu groups according to the police.

Sources say that at least four of the suspects will be taken to Hubli for further investigation. It was from the residence of one of the accused in Hubli in North Karnataka that an imported 7.65mm weapon was seized. Along with it, several documents, some bullets and CDs with some data was recovered by the police.

The Bangalore police commissioner Jyothiprakash Mirji had said yesterday that 'a big catastrophe had been averted'.

U-19 World Cup win in Australia is special: Sourav Ganguly

Hyderabad: Complimenting the Indian team for winning the Under-19 World Cup in Australia, former captain Sourav Ganguly said the victory was special since it came on Australian soil.

"It's a fabulous achievement. I saw the game on TV. Winning a world cup in Australia is a special achievement. So, on that point of view, congratulations to the Under-19 boys. Unmukt Chand and his team, they played fabulously," he said.

Ganguly lauded skipper Unmukt Chand for his brave-heart innings, which scripted the win.

"They were 105 for four, chasing 227 in a world cup final and the captain came and got a 100. So, it is a fabulous achievement," he told reporters at a commercial event.

Ganguly expressed confidence that the pool of young players would provide the base for the Indian cricket in the years to come.

"It is still early days. Indian cricket is always strong. But Under-19 is the base from which future generation players are developed. You see Virat Kohli, three or four years ago, he was the Under-19 captain who won the World Cup also.

"It is the base from which future players come in," he said, when asked how he saw the road ahead for the players who won the World Cup.

Ganguly was speaking at the launch of 'One Nation One Card' concept which aims at eradicating the burden on every individual to carry multiple ID cards for their routine works.