Renegade Naxal and gangster Nayeem killed in Telangana encounter

Hyderabad: Notorious gangster and renegade Naxalite Nayeemuddin, alias Nayeem, known for grisly murders of his targets, was killed in an encounter with Greyhound commandos at Shadnagar town of Mahabubnagar district, 50km away from Hyderabad, on Monday morning, the police said.

Nayeem, whose name spelt terror for more than 20 years, and an accomplice were killed in an exchange of fire after Greyhound force and special police force raided his hideout around 7am at a gated colony named Millennium Township in Shadnagar town of Mahbubnagar district on Monday.

Director-General of Police Anurag Sharma told the media in Hyderabad that the policemen tried to catch Nayeem alive. “When the police asked him to surrender, his men opened fire and in the retaliatory firing by the police, Nayeem was killed,” he said.

“In the melee, Nayeem’s driver managed to escape the scene,” a police official said. There was no casualty on the side of the police. Two others were taken into custody and were being questioned.

The Telangana police had been looking for Nayeem for a long time. Police came to know that Nayeem killed one of his gang members, Wajed, in Zaheerabad town of Medak district on Sunday evening. “Police learnt that Nayeem and his gang members had fled to Shadnagar and reached there around 7pm,” Anurag Sharma said.

Special forces from Hyderabad and Nalgonda surrounded the hideout last night and evacuated the other houses in the vicinity before raiding the place. The deployment of heavily armed commandos, hectic police activity and cordoning off the area had led to rumours of the presence of terrorists there. Panic spread as the gunshots rang through the township off the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway.

After the encounter, the police recovered one AK-47 and four shotguns from the house belonging to one Basha. Two bullet-ridden bodies including that of Nayeem were found in the house.

Later, the police also searched Nayeem’s house in the Alakapuri area of Hyderabad and seized a big amount of cash. Currency-counting machines are being used to count the money recovered.

Seasoned criminal

Using his skills in using arms and explosives as a trained Naxalite and the backing he received as a police informer, Nayeem had formed a gang of criminals and antisocial elements emerging as a law unto himself and amassed massive wealth, a senior police official said. Police say as he was involved in settling land and other property disputes for a fee, Nayeem had also amassed huge tracts of prime land and other property in and around Hyderabad. In the course, he had also developed rivalries with other gang leaders including one Aziz Reddy. an aide of Mumbai-based mafia don Chhota Rajan.

Nayeem’s killing was a big success for Telangana police as he was wanted in connection with over a hundred criminal cases including several murders, extortion and land grabbing.

Sensational murders

A resident of Bhongir in Nalgonda district, Nayeem started as a Naxalite by joining People’s War Group (PWG) in 1989 and was involved in several sensational attacks including the murder of a senior IPS officer, DIG K.S. Vyas, in Lal Bahadur Stadium of Hyderabad on January 27, 1993. Vyas was the head of the anti-Naxalite Greyhound force and was involved in the elimination of several top Naxal leaders.

Nayeem’s name figured in 100 criminal cases, including 20 murders.

Later, he turned renegade and started working as a covert agent of the police and killed several Maoist leaders.

Typical to his gruesome style of killing, he was involved in killing a woman Maoist, Belli Lalitha, and chopping her body to 18 pieces before dumping them in a well at Bhongir in Nalgonda district.

His other victims included former Maoist-turned-Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader K. Sambashivudu, former Maoists Patolla Govardhan, Ganesh, Eidanna, and Ramulu and three human rights activists — Purushottam Rao, Karunakar and Azam Ali in Hyderabad.

Police agent

Though arrested several times, he managed to escape 11 times strengthening the suspicion that the police were using his services to get the Maoists and human rights activists killed during the Telugu Desam Party and Congress regimes in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Human rights and civil rights group had alleged that top police officials were using his services for their personal gains and also to target the Maoist leaders and others by extending clandestine support to him. Police arrested him the last time in 2001 but he escaped.

Nayeem’s gang had spread terror in Hyderabad and surrounding areas including parts of Nalgonda, Medak, Ranga Reddy and Mahabubnagar districts and hit media headlines several times from the late 1980s.

TRS his nemesis?

Since the formation of Telangana state and the TRS coming to power, Nayeem had been on the run as he was also wanted in connection with the murder of TRS leaders.

Rumours were rife since the TRS came to power that Nayeem’s days were numbered and the police were hot on his heels. Horrifying crimes had earned Nayeem such a reputation that any major crime in and around Hyderabad would be attributed to him. Despite their best efforts, the police could not prove any charges against him as soon after any such murder or other offence, some other person would surrender to the police and confess to the crime.

Meanwhile, Chandraiah, father of former Maoist Sambashivudu, expressed his happiness over the “elimination” of Nayeem. Recalling that Nayeem had killed his two sons and many other people, Chandraiah demanded capital punishment for the other members of Nayeem’s gang.

Nayeem’s name had cropped up also during the CBI investigation in to the fake encounter deaths of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi by Gujrat police.

The CBI found that it was on the invitation of Nayeem and his sister that Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi had visited Hyderabad to celebrate Eid and the return bus ticket for the couple to Bengaluru was also booked by Nayeem. Investigators believed that Nayeem had spilt the beans to the police about their travel plans leading to their capture by Gujrat police midway. Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi were later killed in a farmhouse in Gujarat allegedly in a fake encounter.