In a high-voltage hostage drama that lasted five hours and played out on live TV, a superintendent of police was held hostage by a suspended head constable on Wednesday evening. Elite Octopus anti-terror commandos and Quick Reaction Teams of the city police were pressed into service to handle the crisis. Home minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy and DGP V. Dinesh Reddy spoke to the kidnapper, Giriprasad Sharma, who threatened to kill his hostage, E. Lakshminarayana, SP of the State Police Transport Organisation.
Sources said that Sharma invited the SP to his shop, Sailaja Minerals, in a complex near the Birla Temple, to discuss a corruption case he had filed with the Lokayukta. Once the SP entered the shop at 6 pm, “unknown persons” locked the shutters from outside. The kidnapper sent out an SMS to the media stating: “I kidnapped my SP. Pls cover it on live... If try to break the doors I will kill him and will lite him with 40 litres of petrol.”
Constable traumatised: DGP
Stating that the matter matter is related to the Police Transport Organis-ation, constable Giriprasad Sharma, the kidnapper, SMSed the media: “Adhikarulu Tondarapadoddu (officials, don’t take any hasty steps).” It was only at around 10.45 pm that the kidnapper agreed to release the SP after he secured an assurance from the DGP. All the while, the kidnapper watched the proceedings on cable TV.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma said, “The suspended constable asked the SP to come to the place and confined him to the shop. He claimed to be armed with petrol and threatened to harm the SP. The kidnapper did this out of a grudge.” Constable Sharma claimed that SP Vijay Kumar had asked him to carry bathroom chappals.
DGP V. Dinesh Reddy, who spoke to the kidnapper, told the channel, “There is no rescue operation. I spoke to him. I have ordered the PTO IG and other officials not to harm him. I told him to meet me tomorrow morning at 10.30 am in my office. I am available to the public from 3 pm to 4 pm. Some of the points he was making appear to be genuine. I also told him his suspension would be reviewed. He appears to be traumatised.”